Technology development and the poor/marginalised: context, intervention and participation

Abstract

This paper is concerned with technology development for poor and marginalised groups, engaged in small- and micro-enterprise activities in developing economies. We attempt to adapt and re-cast concepts surrounding technology development offered by newer theories `unpacking the black box of technology', but which relate more to the formal sector and `developed' country contexts. The aim is to develop a conceptual framework which can be used for analysing the process of technological learning in SMEs that reflects their developing country and `poor' contexts. We begin by conceptualising technological capability, making a distinction between capacity, the potential of an enterprise to perform, and capability, the ability to realise technological capacity through performance. Enterprises with similar capacity may use, or manage these resources in different ways, suggesting a technological capability spectrum, where at opposite ends are `management as coping' on a day to day basis, and `strategic management capabilities'. Technological learning is the process by which SMEs might move through the spectrum of capabilities. Learning is intertwined with the overall contexts within which SMEs operate, particularly the social, economic and cultural arrangements, and the impact of the economic, policy and institutional influences will vary according to the specific socio-cultural context of the enterprise. For technology development, understanding and adapting to contexts is central to making learning more explicit and effective via interventions. Participatory Technology Development can aid understanding of context, and help to understand, value and build on prior experiential knowledge of SMEs. However, technological learning is a never-ending process, and the main challenge of PTD is how to operationalise and institutionalise it as a set of norms and rules to be followed during intervention, to set up virtuous cycles of learning in SMEs that extend beyond the end of the intervention.