Through their case-study of the evolution of a relatively small manufacturer such as Ferranti-Packard, Ball and Vardalas address a number of broader themes in the history of Canadian business and technology. Ferranti-Packard was British-owned and thus provides a revealing subject for the authors' investigation of the impact of foreign direct investment on Canadian industrial and technological capabilities. An important theme in this analysis is the interplay of British and North American corporate cultures. Ball and Vardalas explain the complex nature of technical and managerial relationships between subsidiaries and parent firms, demonstrating that Ferranti-Packard did not passively receive parent-firm expertise but was highly innovative in product design and marketing philosophy. The association between government and business in the development and direction of technology in Canadian industries since the Second World War is also explored.

Norman R. Ball is Science and Engineering Archivist at the Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa. He holds the Ph.D. degree from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and technology at the University of Toronto. He is co-editor of Let Us Be Honest and Modest: Technology and Society in Canadian History.

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"This book provides an important contribution to our knowledge of both the electric equipment industry and the electronics/computer industry in Canada ... The strength of the book lies in the sophisticated technological orientation of the authors. The secondary literature cited indicates that they have a good grasp of the general literature on Canadian business and technology and they use the primary sources effectively to present a coherent narrative that explains clearly to the lay reader the intricacies of the technologies discussed." Graham Taylor, Department of History, Dalhousie University.