Classifying and prioritizing the success and failure factors of technology commercialization of public R&D in South Korea: using classification tree analysis

Abstract

Many researchers have considered technology transfer and commercialization to be one of the most important and direct outcomes of public R&D. Korea, which has made a significant investment in public R&D, has emphasized the exploitation and commercial success of public technology stemming from government-funded research institutes. This study aims to identify the success and failure factors of technology commercialization and to investigate the barriers faced at the various stages of commercialization—technology acquisition, prototype testing, and product manufacturing stages—in order to determine the distinguishing characteristics of firms that apply transferred technology rather than develop technology in house. We conduct a classification tree analysis and a frequency analysis on the success and failure factors and commercialization barriers research respectively, with 583 technologies transferred from public R&D institutes to private firms over a period of 8 years from 1999 to 2006. The classification tree analysis revealed that “marketing capability” and “cooperation with developer” were the most critical factors for the success and failure of commercialization. Regarding the stages of commercialization, “insufficiency of funds,” “deterioration of market condition,” and “insufficiency of marketing capability” emerged as the top barriers to technology acquisition, prototype testing, and product manufacturing, respectively. These findings hold practical policy and management implications regarding the commercialization process of firms that have adopted technology from the public sector, quantitatively suggesting the relative importance of the success and failure factors as well as the barriers by stages of commercialization.