| Global foreign direct investment (FDI) has become a dominant force in driving the world economy. Multinational Corporations (MNCs) are the main carriers of FDI, technology transfer as well as technology innovation. But when we are examining the structure of global technology transfer, the main activities are still concentrated in the developed economies, and the developing economies are still in a weak position in the acquisition and leveraging of technology transfer.FDI has greatly contributed to China's economy since the reform and opening-up policy was carried out 20 years ago. With China's entry into the WTO and the in-depth development of its open economy, Chinese manufacturing industry has gained more competitiveness. As is well known, FDI has a close relationship not only with manufacturing industry, but also with the technology transfer, innovation and international human resource development. For a long time, Chinese government has been emphasizing the need for advanced technology transfer, which plays an important role in upgrading the technology of Chinese enterprises. However, there still exist inefficiencies in technology transfer. The causes can be concluded as the following three points: (1) Being aware of the lack of technology introduction and learning, the Chinese enterprises find no feasible way to deal with the situation, which may be related to the lag of academic research; (2) MNCs have adopted a conservative way of technology transfer (such as supplying only the simple technology or erecting technology barriers) for fear of losing competitiveness; (3) China's extensive industrial structure and opacity of market competition have little appeal to the leading and hi-tech technology.Now things are changing. The enthusiasm of both the technology transfer on the MNCs' side and the technology learning on the China's side are inspiring, of which market stimulation exerts an important influence. An enterprise can succeed only if it can effectively manage innovation and integrate its resources. All this depends on the technology advantages owned by the enterprises, including technology itself, management experiences, market extension, etc,. It is no doubt that technology has become a key factor in competition.How to acquire the needed technology and how to improve technology competences of enterprises are the subjects that must be dealt with both in theory and in practice. The paper focuses on the MNCs' technology transfer, diffusion, the absorption capacity of Chinese enterprises, and the strategy of technology development. It employs market research methods, normative description, empirical and case studies to deduce the process of MNCs' technology transfer to China, the learning strategy, as well as the logic of technology improvement of Chinese enterprises.The structure of the paper is as follows:The introduction defines the implications of the paper. This is mainly based on some thoughts on key problems, for instance, technology development, international trade and investment stimulate the world economy, what should China do to promote technology development, what is the driving force for technology improvement? Was it autonomous innovation or learning by absorption? These are the fundamentals for the paper to evolve an in-depth analysis.Chapter 1 defines the subject and some difficulties of the research. It is not merely atheoretical deduction, rather it is based on analysis on the questionnaires conducted concerning the 47 MNCs in China, especially those firms in manufacturing and high-tech industries.Chapter 2 defines the sample corporations and related information. Such information directly comes from the questionnaires conducted during the second-half of the year 1998 and 2003. The questionnaires are designed for the middle-or-higher level of management or functional managers on the Chinese side in the sample corporations. We find that MNCs' technology transfer is a strategic behavior and not a makeshift. MNCs are reluctant to transfer the core technology to C...
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