This study attempted to extract factors affecting technology import pricing based on the review of technology transfer process and price determination mechanism. Also, a comprehensive pricing model on technology import was proposed and its empirical validity was assessed.
As for the determinants of technology import price, five factors-the characteristics of technology importing firms and technology supplying firms, the characteristics of negotiation behaviors, technology characteristics, and government regulation-were considered. In particular, technology characteristics and government regulation were treated as contigent variables. Actual monetary paymers for the technology and constraints of technology use were considered as surrogate of the technology import price.
Data were collected via telephone-interview and questionnaire. Total 135 data on the technology import cases were used for statistical analyses. The research model and related hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation analysis, one-way ANOVA, and t-test. The major findings of this study are as follows:
1) Key factors which influence technology import price are the firm's competetiveness, R ＆ D ability, and information ability.
2) The impact of influencing factors on the technology import price differs according to the several contingent variables-technology attributes, industry type, and technology life-cycle.
3) Korean business firms tend to settle technology import price not by negotiation but by the one-side requirements of technology supplying firms. This may be due to high technological gap with technology supplying firms in the developed conturies.
For more valid results on this area, furture researchers should pay more attention to such methodelogical issues as getting proper sample size via stratified sampling method and improving mesurement scale especially for the dependent variable(technology import price). Considering that there exist hetrogeneous forms of technology import price, it is important to transform various pricing methods into a unified scale. To gain more detailed understanding of technology transfer processes and resulting price, in depth case study is encouraged.
