Introduction

This chapter examines the Soviet experience in borrowing technology from the West during two periods, 1928–1937 and 1966–1975. It analyzes the methods used by the Soviet Union to acquire foreign technology and examines the impact of Soviet attitudes, policies, and economic institutions on the technology transfer process. A case study of the Soviet automotive industry provides the basis for analyzing Soviet mechanisms for borrowing foreign technology. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s the Soviet Union experienced a rapid increase in the scale of its commercial relations with the industrial West. An important component of these relations was the transfer of modern industrial technologies from the West to the Soviet Union. The Soviet experience during this period contrasts with a much lower level of commercial exchanges during the preceding three decades, but is reminiscent of Soviet-Western commercial relations during the First Five-Year Plan. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.