Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The development of the institutional structure, 1860–1940
- Part III The development of the postwar system, 1940–1987
- 6 Postwar federal investment in research and development
- 7 The U.S. commercial aircraft industry
- Part IV New environment, new research organizations
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - The U.S. commercial aircraft industry
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The development of the institutional structure, 1860–1940
- Part III The development of the postwar system, 1940–1987
- 6 Postwar federal investment in research and development
- 7 The U.S. commercial aircraft industry
- Part IV New environment, new research organizations
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Previous chapters have examined the historical development of the U.S. R&D system, stressing the importance of organizational structure for innovative performance in the transformation of this system from one financed largely by private funds to one (after World War II) in which federal monies financed a larger share of research. A more detailed consideration of this transformation, the operation of the postwar system, and the implications of both for policy, requires a narrower focus, however. The U.S. commercial aircraft industry presents an excellent subject for such a sectoral study. The industry has been in existence for most of this century, and therefore allows one to trace the effects of different policy regimes on innovative performance and industry behavior in the long run.
In addition, of course, the industry's importance for national security means that it has been at the center of the transformation of the U.S. R&D system, as federal funds (largely for research and testing of military aircraft) now account for a substantial majority of the R&D performed by the firms active in developing and producing commercial aircraft. Other aspects of federal policy toward this industry, including the role of the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (some of whose functions were absorbed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (whose remaining functions now are carried out by the Transportation Department), merit particular attention in view of their potential implications for technology policy in other industries.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth , pp. 169 - 202Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
- 1
- Cited by