An Empirical Analysis of Firms’ Behaviors on Adopting Nanotechnology

• Main Authors: Chin-Sheng Yang, 楊智勝
• Other Authors: Hsiu-Ling Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/07641837578069712709

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 國際商學碩士在職專班 === 92 === Thousands of companies, including most large multinationals and many cutting edge technology product and service companies are determining how nanotechnology can assist and even revolutionize their product offerings. As an emerging field, nanotechnology presents many challenges for effective sales, partnering channels development, venture capital investment and, of course, research & development or technological partnership. There are a variety of reports and scientific papers describing the potential of nanotechnology and when it might evolve and deliver on the promises. The when question is debated many times over in today’s popular press. However, what factors will determine firms or consumers’ adoption behavior in the development of this industry? What will be the key drivers for growth? These questions remain unanswered. This paper develops a model of the key factors influencing the adoption of nanotechnology at the firm level. The following set of variables were hypothesized to have a significant impact upon the pace of nanotechnology adoption: firms’ attribution, key export markets, firms’ core business, Research and Development (R&D) expenditure, staff education level, technological partnerships, and pricing premium for pre- and post-nano product. The model provides a better understanding of the nanotechnology diffusion process. The results of the analysis lead to the conclusion that several explanatory variables in the empirical model, including quality of Human Resource (HR) and having US & Japan markets among the key export markets, have the most significant impact to firms’ behaviors in adopting nanotechnology.