From Depression to Devolution


Book Description

Throughout the twentieth century, Wales underwent rapid and far-reaching economic upheavals on such a scale that few avoided their impacts – from recessions, war, changing fortunes within the iconic steel and coal industries, the rise and decline of manufacturing, as well as the gradual rise to dominance of the service sector – the changes were as dramatic as was the intensity of attempts to deal with their consequences. Wales was a laboratory for government intervention in the economy, ranging from the attraction of investment and the clearance of land made derelict by industry, to the regeneration of urban areas. This is the first book to focus on these actions and to outline why, how and with what effect governments intervened, and it contains timely commentary as economic performance remains one of the most important issues facing contemporary Wales.




Multinationals and European Integration


Book Description

This book examines the role of the multinational firms in processes of European integration. It is primarily concerned with the implications of market integration and industrial restructuring for peripheral European regions. Nicholas Phelps argues that, because of the complex relationship between competition and economies of scale, the persistence of market segmentation, and because of the embeddedness of multinational investment in established production locations, there is considerable inertia in the existing trade and investment patterns of multinationals in the EU. This argument is explored empirically in relation to multinationals operating in Wales. This study suggests that processes of restructuring accompanying market integration are slow to take effect and based on a diversity of motives.




Institutions, Discourse, and Regional Development


Book Description

Why are some regional development strategies adopted and others rejected? Only limited systematic attention has been paid to the politics of regional policy, including the role of institutions, discourse, and political debate in shaping this major area of public policy. The book develops an institutionalist approach to the study of regional policy, capable of spanning major European development paradigms and accounting for the dynamic relationship between organisations, policies and political discourse. This conceptual framework is then applied to the Scottish Development Agency, a development body famed across Europe for its innovative policies but surrounded by political controversy in Scotland. A detailed study of corporate strategies, policy implementation, and the wider British environment questions existing interpretations of the organisation which tend to vilify anti-interventionist Thatcherites or glorify shrewd development professionals. Instead the author proposes an alternative synthesis which highlights the interplay between institutions, discourse and regional development in the politics of regional policy.




The Globalization of Multinational Enterprise Activity and Economic Development


Book Description

This book explores and analyzes the effects of the globalization strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on national and local development and highlights the implications of these effects for policy makers. Containing contributions from leading international business scholars, the text addresses this previously little explored but critically important issue for the future of the world economy.




The Multinational Subsidiary


Book Description

This book highlights the evolution of the thinking on the multinational subsidiary over a quarter of a century, from the early concerns about the 'branch plant syndrome' to very current topics relating to the Multinational Enterprise as a differentiated corporate network and its role in innovation and entrepreneurship. It summarises and evaluates the state of the art in research on the multinational subsidiary, with particular reference to managerial and economic development dimensions. The volume presents the articles of Neil Hood (written in conjunction with other leading scholars, particularly Julian Birkinshaw and Stephen Young), along with new contributions. The book will be of major interest to students, researchers and policy makers.




Regional Development in the 1990s


Book Description

This book documents the changing nature and challenge of regional development in Britain and Ireland in the final decade of this century. In the first half of this book, region-by-region profiles review the experience of the eighties and reflect on the present climate, assessing problems and opportunities. The second half provides 25 commentaries on changes influencing the development of regions from questions of industry, technology and employment to the impact of national policy and 1992, and the prospects and capacity for regional policy and development.




Inward Investment


Book Description

Inward investment is broadly defined as the process by which companies based outside a particular geographical area invest economic activities within that area. This title provides an up-to-date guide and overview of the literature of the subject, and examines the issues in the UK context.




Behind the Myth of European Union


Book Description

The vision of the original arhitects of the European Community was to create a Europe of economic prosperity and social harmony. Economic integration has come ever closer, but sustained growth and a reduction in social disparities seen as far away as ever. This book examines the prospects for the real cohesion in Europe and find that, far from promroting it, many of the Community's current policies are divisive. The neo-liberal philosophy at the moment is producing policies which favour relatively wealthy regions and major corporations at the expense of less favoured regions and peoples.




Spatial Policy in a Divided Nation


Book Description

This re-evaluation of the role of regional policy in the UK has been accompanied by a much closer identification of regional policy with national economic policymaking. This book, drawing upon the contributions of a large number of experts in the field in the UK, sets the debate on the future of spatial policy explicitly within the context of the economics and politics of the North-South divide. Recent policy debates in the United Kingdom have highlighted two major issues which will shape future policy developments and their impact in the 1990s - the persistence of pronounced regional economic and social imbalances and the shift away from traditional perceptions of the role of regional policy, with a new emphasis on inner-city as opposed to regional problems. In this collection by leading researchers in the field, the role of regional policy in the UK is re-evaluated against a background of renewed debate on the economic disparities inherent in the north-south divide and an assessment of the implications for future policy.




Economic Activity and Land Use The Changing Information Base for Localand Regional Studies


Book Description

Concerned primarily with statistical data, this text aims to provide a guide to the nature, uses, availability and limitations of the main data sources for interpreting and undertaking regional studies of economic activity. It also considers the methods used for the collection of this data.