1. LECTURE 4: TECHNOLOGICAL AND MANAGERIAL CAPABILITY
What is Technological and Managerial Capability;
Forms of Tech and Managerial Capabilities;
Disaggregation of Tech and Manag Capabilities;
Centrality of TC for Successful Tech Development
and Competitive Economic Development;
Methods for Building T and M Capabilities.

2. What is Technological and Managerial Capability
Technological and Managerial Capability is a stock of resources (human, institutional etc) located within and around a productive unit within an economy/society/country/ regional grouping and/or some larger grouping. These resource take various forms - eg human skills, expertise and experiences; institutions, organizations etc. The main function of these resources is to define and execute given tasks. More precisely TC and Managerial Capability is engaged in, for example: Managing Technology Transfer Process, Managing Innovation, Designing and implementing STI Policies etc.

3. Forms of Tech and Managerial Capabilities.
Human Resource.
Knowledge, understanding, insights, skills, expertise, experiences of a technical, engineering, economic, managerial, social etc nature relevant and required for technological development.
2. Organizations and Institutions.
A set of organizations and institutions within which a number of technological, technical, economic and managerial tasks and functions relevant for technological development are defined and executed. Such organizations and institutions include – R&D departments; trouble - shooting departments, consulting organizations, design institutions. And so forth.

4. Forms of Techn and Manag Capability - CONTINUED
3. STI Policies, Plans, Programs, Strategies etc
Elements of STI and broader policies, plans, programs, strategies etc needed and required for fostering technological development – eg those elements and instruments needed for fostering efficient management of ITT, Innovation management, technological capability development etc constitute veritable forms of Tech and Managerial Capability.
4. Innovation Culture
Elements of an organization behavioral routines and ways of doing things (organization culture) that support and foster innovation within the organization. Such behavioral elements include – team building and working, respecting other peoples ideas, building on the ideas of others, attentive listening, staying focused etc are unique capabilities.

5. Disaggregation of Technological and Managerial Capability.
INVESTMENT CAPABILITIES
Project Management Capability – ability to organize and oversee project establishment and expansion;
Project Engineering Capability – ability to provide and synthesize information and make technology operational within a particular context;
Procurement Capability – the ability to choose, organize, co ordinate and supervise hardware, software suppliers and civil construction contractors;
Capabilities for embodying technology in physical capital - abilities for construction, plant erection, machinery and equipment manufacture etc.
Start up capabilities - abilities for staff training, achieving start up efficiency levels etc.

6. Disaggregation of Technological and Managerial Capability – CONTINUED.
2. PRODUCTION CAPABILITY
Production Management Capability – the ability to oversee and improve on the operation of established establishments.
Production Engineering Capability – the ability to obtain, synthesize and act on information and data in order to optimize operations.
3. INNOVATION CAPABILITY
The ability for capturing new ideas, opportunities etc ;and subsequently carrying out technical possibilities through to economic and commercial practice. These involve the abilities for searching ideas and opportunities; evaluating same to allow for committing, realizing the innovation and optimizing benefits from the innovation.

7. CENTRALITY OF TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITY
Technological and Managerial Capability:
Lies at the heart of successful technological development and hence dynamic and competitive industrial and economic development;
ii It is through ‘mastery’ of the technical basis of production that much of the increases in production efficiency and productivity – and hence competitiveness of productive units arises. On this very point Pack and Westphal (1996:106) note:
‘……industrial development is a process of acquiring technological
capability in the course of continual technological change’
Likewise, Sanjaya Lall (1987:230) notes:
‘The efficient development of industry requires a broad range of
technological capabilities’

8. iii. The process of technological capability accumulation requires investment, effort and allocation of resources. Dahlman, Ross – Larson and Westphal (1987:759) underscore this point:
‘ Acquisition of technological Capability does not come merely from
experience – though experience is important. It comes from conscious
efforts – to monitor what is being done, to try new things, to keep track of
developments throughout the world, to accumulate added skills and to
increase the ability to respond to new pressures and opportunities’.
The authors (766) further note:
‘The acquisition of innovation capability - like the act of innovation -
comes from explicit allocations of money and people to solve
technological problems’
Thus the process of developing technological capability is far from being
automatic, effortless and costless as once believed ( K Arrow, 1962)

9. Methods for Building Technological Capability
Formalised and focused Training Programs;
Learning -by - doing programs and schemes;
Technological apprenticeship programs and schemes;
Learning by research;
Reverse engineering programs and schemes.