The paper examines the process of technology transfer from British industrial companies to Vietnamese companies, to look at the obstacles of this process, especially in dealing with different business culture environments. The study uses the case studies method, conducting interviews with about ten companies working in oil and gas service industry. Since this is only a first stage of the longer term project, only preliminary results were discussed. Therefore, a company in civil engineering consulting has been examined for comparison. The paper argues that the differences in perception of the same operation activity like service in oil and gas industry are crucial factors to take into account if the transfer process is to be successful. Also, the transferor and the recipient may have different behaviour in negotiating, in communicating with each other. Thus, the preparation of background information, to do "home work", patience and pro-active attitudes in trying to understand partners are important for transferring technology into different business environment.
In addition, the factors, sometime not very technology-related, such as internal political motives and organisational issues of the firms involved can be very influential in the success of technology transfer process.
