Technological capability building in public research organisations: the case of CSIR in South Africa
Date
2015
Authors
Sekwele, Stella Dineo
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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the process that Public Research
Organisations (PROs) in South Africa, such as the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR), use in building technological capabilities. PROs in
industrialising countries face a number of challenges such as limited access to
resources, cut-backs in government funding, lack of relevance to industry needs and
failure to transfer technology to industry as well as changing government priorities.
In the specific case of the CSIR Biosciences Unit, the above mentioned challenges
have had a detrimental effect on building technological capabilities, and are likely to
have a compounded effect on how technological capabilities are built within the
CSIR.
One approach that has been suggested in the literature reviewed in the case of
industrialising countries that could assist in understanding the challenges currently
faced by the CSIR Biosciences Unit is to contrast the elements of the balanced
Technological Capability Building (TCB) system model with an unbalanced TCB
system model. The objective of this research is therefore to understand the factors
that promote or impede technological capability building in a PRO in South Africa.
The study uses the TCB model as a reference to investigate how this is done in the
context of the selected case study, but it goes further to explore how the TCB model
is actualised/implemented in this particular PRO, investigating how a lack of
technological capabilities impacts on its overall performance.
Much has been written about how best to develop technological capabilities in
general. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the process through which
capability building is done within public research organisations in industrialising
countries. Therefore, little is known about the specifics of the process in these
contexts, including considerations such as speed and decision making in the
capability building process.
Public Research Organisations (PROs) in such countries use highly sophisticated
technology and machinery, a majority of which is sourced internationally, in order to
carry out their developmental mandate. As a result, the technology and operational
expertise also emanates from outside of industrialising countries.
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In this study, empirical data from the CSIR Biosciences Unit is interrogated and
analysed by employing a qualitative methodology in order to gain an indepth
understanding of how this process works in a PRO based in South
Africa. Most of the empirical literature that has been explored by several authors
and scholars primarily deals with how organisations in industrialised countries build
technological capabilities, but there is very limited literature and empirical data on
how public research institutions in industrialising countries build their own
technological capabilities.
In conclusion, the findings of this research project are in general agreement with the
literature, which indicates that organisations that deploy a balanced and effective
approach to TCB with equal attention given to internal and external processes are
likely to yield positive results in terms of improved effectiveness. However, this study
goes further to demonstrate that the more fundamental issues in this particular case
are limited funding, ineffective and inconsistent leadership and a lack of retention of
scarce skills.
Description
Thesis (M.M. (Innovation Studies))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2015.