Negotiating Technology Transfers within Multinational Enterprises; Perspectives from Canadian History

Abstract

This essay examines the processes through which technology and technological capabilities were transferred by parent companies to their foreign affiliates in Canada, focusing on three companies covering the period from the 1880s to the 1950s. The three companies are: Bell Telephone Co. of Canada, which was affiliated with American Bell/American Telephone & Telegraph during this period; Canadian Vickers Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British firm, Vickers Ltd, from 1910 to 1927; and Canadian Industries Ltd (CIL) which was jointly owned by the American firm, Du Pont, and the British Company, Imperial Chemical industries Ltd, from 1910 to 1952. In each case the major factors affecting decisions involving transfers of technology were: the general strategic objectives of the parent firm(s); the role played by managers in the affiliated firm in negotiating for these transfers; and the degree of control exercised by the parent company over the Canadian enterprise.