ABSTRACT

GLOBAL ENTERPRISES AND THE TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY*

While this paper does not presume to add anything new to the theoretical discussions on the transfer of technology, it offers some contributions to the pool of information of Third World countries regarding the activities of multi­ nationals in the area of technology transfer. Because of the predisposition of economic thinking and policy towards the multinationals as factors of economic development, there has been very little critical analysis of the practices of these global enterprises in the Philippines. It is only lately that some local articulation on the subject has been attempted. Studies have barely begun. The dearth of literature and the understandable reticence of those employed in multi­ national corporations to reveal their experiences and critical opinions has been partly responsible for the slow public reaction to the issue. It is typical of thought in a country like the Philippines that has been subjected to colonial techniques of obfuscation and distortion for four centuries that the critical faculty has been stunted especially as regards such subjects as foreign investment and “aid.”1