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The ultimate effects of that decision —on Lockheed, its airline customers, British industry and Britain's commercial credibility—will take months to become clear. Some lessons of the Rolls-Royce debacle are already apparent. A government can be too eager for exports. For a buyer like Lockheed, the lowest price is not necessarily the best deal, because a delivery failure by a crucial supplier can involve both in calamity. Most important, perhaps, men who think themselves so much the masters of complex technology that they can control its costs and timing may be riding for a shattering fall.