Technology development of firms in developing countries has been regarded as the series of learning process composed of acquisition, mastery and improvement of adopted technologies. The major purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of firms' technological capabilities and organizational learning as well as the effects of technological environment in the process of technology acquisition and mastery of the Korean commercial vehicle industry.
This study begins with the review of literature on technological innovation and organizational learning, and examines the history, characteristics and statistics of the automobile industry. In addition, the differences in characteristics between commercial vehicles and passenger cars are analyzed.
To investigate the inside of technology development process, an in-depth case study of Company A is carried out. Company A has developed commercial vehicles recently by licensing from a Japanese company. Besides licensing, company A has acquired the technologies from suppliers and customers and developed a portion by indigenous efforts.
The result of this study shows that a firm with accumulated technological capabilities and active learning systems can internalize the acquired technologies successfully through the learning process. Also the overall technological levels of the Nation and related industries have important effects on the technology development of each industry.
