ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews of the vital 'extraneous' roles played by governments and their proxies. It devotes entirely to the circumstances appropriate to civilian electronics production. Innovation has been invested with great significance in industrial organisation thinking. Not only is it regarded as being central to the preliminary operations of enterprises, but it continues to shape their succeeding evolution. Essentially, J. A. Schumpeter declaims on the indispensable role of product innovations to the fortunes of enterprises. As originally conceived, the cornerstone of Research and development (R&D) or at its most elemental level, the experimentation and tinkering of the aspirant inventor, was undertaken entirely within the framework of the firm. Industrial structure, in so far as it reflects firm size, has an ambivalent relationship with R&D and innovation. Some observers, undoubtedly influenced by Schumpeter, maintain that it is large firms which are most in tune with technological progressiveness.
