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The small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector plays an increasingly important role in economic development. SMMEs have the capacity to make a meaningful contribution to employment creation, innovation and competitiveness. Access to technology is essential for improving SMME competitiveness, however. Multinational enterprises are particularly important for developing technological capabilities and the access to, and utilisation of, technologies are mainly determined by these multinational enterprises. It is therefore widely believed that linkages with multinational enterprises could help to enhance the competitiveness of small enterprises. This article is based on a literature review and aims to present the positioning of theory with regard to the role of international linkages in the transfer of technology from multinational enterprises to domestic small component manufacturers in the automotive industry in South Africa. Issues discussed are globalisation, the importance of competitiveness, SMMEs, the conceptualisation and role of technology transfer and the importance of multinational enterprises.

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