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in the sense that these are no major product innovations. 
The resistence of these industries against removal of 
obsolete excess capacity cannot be put down entirely to 
oligopoly and the defense of property interest nowadays. 
It is also a matter of labour policy - the defense of 
jobs - and of national policy. 
In fact the concentration which has taken place in recent 
decades has some new features. The concentration process 
has been given official blessing and support as a matter 
of national policy in most advanced countries. It has 
been regarded as an instrument to improve the chances of 
technological competition with other countries. Competition 
has increasingly shifted to an international level (with 
the greater openness of the economies) it is in certain 
fields at least (electronics, chemicals) to a large extent 
technological competition, and the national governments 
are to some extent involved in it, both agressively and 
defensively. 
While the shifting of the whole process to an international 
level and the openness of the. systems has no doubt worked 
in favour of greater competition, the involvement of 
national policy works in favour of protection of excess 
capacity in "mature" industries, which also keeps up mark 
up and prices there. The firms there, finding themselves