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From Branch Plant Economies to Knowledge Economies? Manufacturing Industry, Government Policy, and Economic Development in Britain's Old Industrial Regions

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  • Nicholas A Phelps

    (Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, 22 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0QB, England)

Abstract

In this paper I present an ex post review of the failure of mobile private investment to contribute to the formation of competitive industry agglomerations in the UK's old industrial regions. The UK's industrial districts were the inspiration for the concept of external economies with which we understand the competitiveness of agglomerations of economic activity. Yet long-standing disarticulation between UK government inward investment, regional, industrial, and technology policy has ensured that mobile investment (notably, but not exclusively, foreign direct investment) has rarely contributed to the genesis of competitive agglomerations of new economic activity. Up until the 1980s the nature of mobile investment actually offered considerable scope for successive UK governments to leverage on synergies between it and established industry specialisms in the formation of viable new agglomerations of economic activity. Since the 1980s the difficulties of creating synergies between new mobile and existing industry arguably have increased, leaving new regional economic strategies as little more than wishful thinking regarding the formation of new agglomerations of knowledge-based economic activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas A Phelps, 2009. "From Branch Plant Economies to Knowledge Economies? Manufacturing Industry, Government Policy, and Economic Development in Britain's Old Industrial Regions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 27(4), pages 574-592, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:27:y:2009:i:4:p:574-592
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    Cited by:

    1. Miguel Atienza & Patricio Aroca & Robert Stimson & Roger Stough, 2016. "Are vertical linkages promoting the creation of a mining cluster in Chile? An analysis of the SMEs' practices along the supply chain," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(1), pages 171-187, February.
    2. Calvin Jones & Max Munday, 2020. "Capital ownership, innovation and regional development policy in the economic periphery: An energy industry case," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(6), pages 545-565, September.
    3. Grzegorz Micek & Robert Guzik & Krzysztof Gwosdz & Bolesław Domański, 2021. "Newcomers from the Periphery: The International Expansion of Polish Automotive Companies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, May.
    4. George Petrakos & Georgios Fotopoulos & Dimitris Kallioras, 2012. "Peripherality and Integration: Industrial Growth and Decline in the Greek Regions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(2), pages 347-361, April.
    5. Julie Tian Miao & Peter Hall, 2014. "Optical Illusion? The Growth and Development of the Optics Valley of China," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 32(5), pages 863-879, October.
    6. Daniela-Luminita Constantin & Carmen Beatrice Pauna & Mariana Dragusin & Zizi Goschin & Constanta Bodea, 2011. "The Question of Clusters in Lagging Regions: Do They Really Make the Difference? A Case Study in Romania," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(5), pages 889-910, October.

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