Creating the Computer: Government, Industry and High Technology - Hardcover

Flamm, Kenneth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0815728506 ISBN 13: 9780815728504

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 1988

Synopsis

The development of the first electronic digital computers in the 1940s signaled the beginning of a new and distinctive type of industry—an industry marked by competition through innovation, and by the large percentage of revenues spent on research and development.

Written as a companion volume to Targeting the Computer: Government Support and International Competition, this comprehensive volume provides a new understanding to the complex forces that have shaped the computer industry during the past four decades. Kenneth Flamm identifies the origins of technologies important to the creation of computers and traces the roots of individual technologies to the specific research groups and programs responsible for major advances. He evaluates the impact of these innovations on industrial competition and argues that the emergence of specialization and product differentiation in the 1950s and the compatibility and standards in the mid-1960s were key factors defining this competition. Flamm also identifies the various market strategies adopted in later decades to challenge an industry leader, strategies linked to the entry and exit of individual firms.

In addition to the effects of technology and internal industry developments, international competition and national policies on technology, trade, and investment shaped the evolution of this new industry. Flamm documents the role of government support for technology in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan and describes the critical technological and economic links between national and international markets. Finally, he links these strategies, technological trends, and national policies to one another and shows how they continue to influence current developments in the computer industry.

About this title

About the Author

Kenneth Flamm is a senior fellow in Economic Studies and Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.

From Library Journal

The author ( Targeting the Computer ) traces the origins of the computer through the changing composition of today's international industry. He finds that despite the decline in government support from nearly two-thirds of computer R&D in the 1950s to only 20 percent currently, much current key technology can be traced back to the earlier governmental support. His thoroughly researched work contains a wealth of detail and references; his conclusion is one we should consider: "The development of the computer industry may be remembered as much for exemplifying a new pattern for economic growth, as for the world-shaking technology." Hilary D. Burton, Lawrence Livermore Lab, Livermore, Cal.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0815728506
• ISBN 13: 9780815728504
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 210