Moscow Dmz: The Story of the International Effort to Convert Russian Weapons Science to Peaceful Purposes: The Story of the International Effort to Convert Russian Weapons Science to Peaceful Purposes by Glenn E. Schweitzer

Author:Glenn E. Schweitzer [Schweitzer, Glenn E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General, History & Theory
ISBN: 9781315286075
Google: P4gYDQAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 32205907
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1996-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Can New R&D Programs Influence Industrial Conversion?

Clearly, R&D conversion activities designed to serve the core requirements of a market economy in Russia must be linked to progress in industrial conversion, an equally elusive term, in the former defense plants that so dominate the industrial base of the country.11 In this regard, American skeptics of Russian efforts frequently point to the following commentary about industrial conversion in the United States to make their case for discouraging such useless activity at the Russian factories.

Defense conversion attempts have been made, some laughable and in retrospect almost all dismal.... The reason for this solid record of failure is simple: defense work has little in common with civilian work. These two areas demand different skills and marketing techniques and have different cultures and organizations. Clearly the defense business, even in the United States, has little to do with free enterprise. Defense contractors have a single customer who directs them from above, rather than many customers who show their preferences in the market below.

Defense contractors lack expertise in mass marketing and in making high volume, low unit-cost items. Their distribution network is, in the commercial sense, nonexistent. Their capitalization is modest. Their product servicing is limited. And the bookkeeping and reporting requirements are staggering. Defense firms know little of consumer tastes, establishing customer credit, or pricing to compete in the commercial marketplace. They know nothing of market research. Much of their work is performed under cost-reimbursable contracts—they are paid whatever costs they incur, which encourages taking huge technological risks. In a nutshell, defense contractors have adapted to their unique monopsonistic environment in a Darwinian fashion. To further complicate matters, embedded within this monopsony are occasional monopolies, since only a single firm can sell the customer a B–2 bomber.12

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.