ABSTRACT
This chapter examines several topics related to technological capabilities. In complex modern technologies, command of broad gauged technologies almost always is split among different firms that are mutually dependent. An industrial Research and Development laboratory tied to a firm is both a source of new technology for that firm and a vehicle through which that firm stays up with advances in technology made elsewhere. There are apparent systematic differences across countries in the extent to which companies command various technologies, and there are changes over time both in the national locus of technological leadership and in the pecking order. The time is ripe for a dose look at the roles governments have played in effective industrial development in the post World War II period. From time immemorial, leading craft guilds, leading firms, and leading nations have tried to protect their technological lead.
