The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation

An interim assessment of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) approaches this task from three perspectives: a descriptive review of MCC's origins and development of the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984, an empirical study of what is new and distinctive about MCC and an assessment of its future prospects as a private corporation and as a de facto instrument of U.S. foreign economic policy.

Abstract

This article offers an interim assessment of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC). It approaches this task from three perspectives: (1) a descriptive review of MCC's origins and development of the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984, under which MCC qualified for limited exemption from the antitrust laws for the purpose of collaboration, as defined, in research and development; (2) an empirical study of what is new and distinctive about MCC; and (3) an assessment of its future prospects as a private corporation and as a de facto instrument of U.S. foreign economic policy. Market and institutional models of the foreign trade arena are employed to aid in the evaluation process, as is McKenna's model of the stages of product creation. MCC's future is viewed as uncertain and controversial, in part because its creation, structures, and goals reflect many of the issues associated with the ongoing debate on the appropriate nature of business-government relations in the United States.