Transfert de technologie: Les dimensions oubliees. A partir de l'etude et la comparaison de trois cas au sein de PME beninoises

There is more and more at stake in the control of technology transfers for those companies who are faced with the growing globalisation of exchanges. Paradoxically, whereas management sciences offer new sources to understand technology transfers, they are rarely mentioned in the specialised literature.;The contribution of this thesis aims at being methodological: methodical opportunism is thus one of the main notions discussed in this research. It shows how research, innovation and technology transfer have numerous similarities in their processes.;Finally, the unexplored aspects of technology transfers presented in this research go beyond the simple framework of SMEs in developing countries, at the point it is thought the project appears to be managed along the lines of a small business, where the project Manager takes on the role of Entrepreneur. Therefore, this theorisation embraces some aspects of generalisability which are left to the reader's judgement.;Key words. SME, Technology Transfer, Innovation, Development, Networks, Trust, Entrepreneur, Informations, Participant Observation, Africa, Epistemology, Usage, Sociotechnology, Social Capitol, Methodology Management.;The aim of this research is therefore to revisit the concepts of technology transfers, by suggesting a "grounded theory". Within this framework, the contributions of the thesis are severalfold: (1) Whereas most of the written documents dealing with technology transfers do not offer a description of the transfer actually taking place, three case studies are presented to help the reader's comprehension. (2) From these descriptions, several new elements of theorisations are suggested within the field of technology transfers. These concentrate on the actual process, whether it deals with its innovating nature, the importance of the sociotechnical networks and confidence in it, the specificities and advantages of SMEs, and the entrepreneur's role. (3) As a conclusion, an epistemological analysis is put forward, which aims to show to what extent the technology transfer is far from being intrinsically doomed to failure, despite the societal differences which surround it.