Know-How for Sale

William E. Knox, new president of Westinghouse Electric International Co., has a simple, realistic philosophy about foreign trade: "You can't do business with a poorhouse." Conceding that exports will boom for a while, he believes they are bound to fall off after a few years to the prewar level, or below.

The solution, says Knox, is to make the poorhouses richer by selling them what they most need: U.S. know-how. Last week, as a starter in his new job, Knox made just such a deal with China, one of the poorest of the world's poorhouses.

Under a 20-year agreement with China's National Resources Commission, Westinghouse International will design buildings, set up machinery and production processes, and train personnel for a $35 million electrical manufacturing plant in China. In return, Westinghouse will get lump-sum payments for its know-how and brain power during the first ten years, royalties on the products during the second ten years.

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