Z’echnouation.

2 (1983) 61 61
Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

BOOK REVIEW
Industrial Innovation and Public Policy: Preparing for the 1980’s and 1990 ‘s,
by Roy Rothwell and Walter Zegveld, Francis Pinter Publications Limited,
London, 1981, $13.50 hardback, 251 pages.

In the opening words of the Introduction the authors suggest that

amongst Western governments one means of overcoming the damaging ef-
fects of high oil prices and the resultant recession, is the stimulation of tech-
nological innovation. The authors examine public policy towards innovation
in France, Germany, Japan and the U.S.A. as well as in the United Kingdom.
Whilst written mainly for academics, the book should certainly be read by
industrial managers. However it is not an easy book to read and perhaps
should be used more for reference purposes, each chapter being self con-
tained with a valuable bibliography at the end of each chapter.
It becomes very clear from the book that the United Kingdom can learn
a great deal from other countries’ co-operation between industry and govem-
ment so as to gain an improvement in the competitive performance of in-
dustry. Government and industry must co-operate in order to develop long-
term policies for technological innovation which are based on current prob-
lems. Perhaps then the U.K. would not suffer by being extremely inventive
but all too often failing to reap the_ rewards of this inventiveness: the loss
is two-fold with inventions not getting into production and possible success
in the world’s markets being lost.
The book is well illustrated by means of tables and figures. It is a pity
that under the list of contents these tables and figures are not detailed. The
table of contents is very sparse, giving only the chapter headings and if the
book is to be used for reference, as I am sure it will, the list of contents
ought to have included sub-headings for each chapter: such attention to
detail would have enhanced the value of the book greatly. There is a short
but useful index but again, as the book will mainly be used as a reference
tool, it is a pity that the publishers did not include a composite bibliography
at the end of the book rather than have readers going through the separate
bibliographies at the end of each chapter.
However in spite of these quibbles, which are mainly in the publishers’
rather than the authors’ field, I feel that Roy Rothwell and Walter Zegveld
have produced a very valuable book for both academics and industrialists,
not to mention politicians and economists, equally profitable to readers in
Western Europe, the U.S.A. and Japan.
On a very personal level, I would have liked to see a chapter on the role
of the entrepreneur for at times it would appear that though great emphasis
is placed on the innovator little mention is made of the entrepreneur, who
after all makes it all happen - or otherwise!

GEORGE HAYWARD