The Performance of Supply-Push Versus Demand-Pull Technology Transfer and the Role of Technology Marketing Strategies: The Case of a Korean Public Research Institute

Abstract

Technology transfer is one of important strategies in sustainable economic growth. There are supply-push and demand-pull directions of technology transfer, and recently Korean research institutes have paid increasing attention to demand-pull technology transfer in an attempt to improve public research institutes’ technology transfer performance (TTP). However, our view is that simply adopting a demand-pull or a supply-push model does not always guarantee improved TTP. We argue that technology marketing strategies, such as mass marketing and target marketing, should also be considered. This study aims to investigate the relationship between technology transfer directions and TTP, and the role of technology marketing strategies. We collected a Korean research institute’s technology transfer data from 2014 to 2015, and then employed a two-way ANOVA to analyze the data. The result of the analysis shows that TTPs differ by technology transfer directions and technology marketing strategies. More importantly, we found that the demand-pull model yields higher TTP, especially when the model is associated with target marketing strategies rather than mass-marketing strategies. This result implies that marketing strategies, such as market segmentation and customer targeting, are needed if an organization wants to improve TTP by implementing the demand-pull technology transfer model.