The main concern of this thesis is to assess the performance of the transnational corporations in the transfer of technology to Egypt. The thesis first, reviews the economic literature concerning the economic rationale behind the phenomenon of direct foreign investment and its effect on transnationals' performance in host developing countries. It surveys the debate on the transfer of technology to developing countries and the major issues that arise and then looks at the development of the industrialisation process in Egypt from 1952 to 1974, the date that marks the adoption of the Open Door Economic Policy. The magnitude of foreign investment is assessed by sector and industry and the domestic policy context which might affect the outcome of the transfer of technology is discussed in some detail. The main part of this thesis reports the results of a survey undertaken in Egypt on the contribution of the transnational corporations to the transfer of technology. It was found that the finms surveyed have not engaged in a genuine transfer of technology. The transnationals were found to be keen to transfer mostly unadapted technology from their own home countries or other advanced markets. Accordingly, no genuine effort has been made in fields such as research and development, training of local personnel and co-operation with local research and development institutes. Moreover, these firms were found to concentrate on products with a high import content. In the meantime, their record of exports from Egypt has proved to be very poor. These conclusions are mostly consonant with what has been argued by the critical literature and dissonant with the conventional view of the transnationals' impact on developing countries with regard to both direct foreign investment and the transfer of technology
