ABSTRACT
The acquisition of and access to western technology has been a subject of considerable debate and discussions. However, these discussions about developing country strategies for obtaining and utilizing appropriate technologies often suffer from limited and inappropriate perspectives. This chapter describes the emerging opportunities, how they are exploited by technologically sophisticated companies and their implications for developing countries. While the fact that technologies in many fields have undergone a massive increase is well recognized, the full implications of the technology explosion are not. Two other concomitant developments are also important. First there is the increase of cross-field and interdisciplinary technologies. Secondly, there is the emergence of a highly competitive global technology marketplace with multiple sources of similar technologies. One implication is that international technology sourcing requires an active, systematic, fulltime, professional effort, i.e., a formal department dedicated to this one area of work.
