There are forms and channels of technology transfer which can be considered uncontrolled. Nevertheless, a great deal of technology transfer has always been and still is controlled but part of the control tends to fail.  Naturally, companies supplying technology are most interested to control the transfer of their technology. In addition, many other stakeholders participate in the control of transfer. Recipient firms want to influence what kinds of technology are used in their premises as well as their economic environment. Furthermore, governments of the countries of both suppliers and recipients and even those of neighbouring countries sometimes attempt to use their power in selecting the transfer of technology.

Because the transfer of technology tends to be under the surveillance of many stakeholders even in normal peacetime situations, this phenomenon was under a tight control in the exceptional circumstances of the Cold War. This paper focuses to study how the Iron Curtain operated as a filter of technology transfer. The applicability of the theoretical model is demonstrated and tested by examining some historical case studies of technology transfer between Finland and the Soviet Union. The paper argues that the Soviet Union did always not want to import the best available western technology but preferred products, which had primarily manufactured from Finnish raw materials and components. This policy forced Finland to invest in the production of some raw materials and components, which were not of the best quality or price competitive in the western markets. As the result, the trade with the Soviet Union on one hand diversified the composition of the Finnish industrial production.   On the other hand, it made the structure of the industrial production more fixed.

However, not all choices by the Soviet Union were politically motivated. Especially in the consumer sector some Finnish products fit Russian taste better than other. For example, for decades Finnish Viola soft cheese by Valio has been more popular in the eastern neighbour than in Finland. The political control of Russo-Finnish trade has considerably decreased but Viola still remains the most popular Finnish cheese in Russia.

The paper ends up to a conclusion that the transfer of technology in the Cold War period was a very complex issue. The choice of transferred technology did not depend only on political and economic factors; cultural and national preferences had also an impact on the assortments of product deliveries. Finnish exporters have always been aware that somewhat different products are preferred in the Russian market than in the western ones.