Employment change in the 1990s: Findings from a study in Nottingham

The paper reports from a study of employment change from a sample of members of Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce. The main focus is a comparison of the workers who lost their jobs and of the new recruits during the period January 1990 — September 1991. The study produced clear evidence of. the wide scale nature of workforce adjustment, although redundancy was the most important labour shedding method adopted, other methods were used. Manufacturing and service companies surveyed shed “permanent” jobs as well as part-time “flexible” jobs. Although far more jobs were lost than were created, half the surveyed companies did, in fact, recruit staff.     

Local economies and business networks re-visited. A case study of business and professional services in London

This article describes networks among business and professional services (BPS) firms in London, and deals with the relationship between the businesses interviewed and their locality. The article is based on empirical material derived from a large number of interviews with BPS firms in central London. It is noted that lateral links between firms are poor, relationships are better characterised as competitive rather than co-operative, and businesses tend to take little interest in the various support agencies. Although all the businesses interviewed placed great emphasis on the development of close, co-operative relationships with clients, markets are geographically diffuse. However, despite the weakness of localised, inter-firm links, businesses were able to identify a number of valuable and distinctive assets attached to their current location, which implies that the “local economy” continues to be important. The article finishes briefly with some implications for local economies and appropriate methods of business support.     

Contract culture and target fetishism: The distortive effects of output measures in local regeneration programmes

Performance management in TECs¹ and urban initiatives has developed in the 1990s into a “contract culture” characterised by heavy reliance on quantitative indicators as the basis for funding arrangements. These indicators may have perverse effects. Firstly, they may distort the design of local policy at the level of strategic planning and SRB (Single Regeneration Budget) bid-writing. Secondly, their use in contracts between TECs, City Challenge companies, SRB partnerships and their delivery agencies may distort policy implementation. An instructive parallel may be drawn between this “indicator distortion” and the distortions induced by planning targets in the former Soviet Union.     

Sustainable development and the local economy

This article sets out the divergence so far between the developing “environmental economics” and local authority “green strategies”. We propose a model of environmentally sustainable economic development. Our argument outlines “environmental efficiency” and more stringent “sustainability” objectives. It reviews current local authority activities and practices. All are within the “environmental efficiency” framework. It concludes by identifying opportunities created by recent government commitment to environmental improvement targets and argues that local authorities are well placed to take up the challenge of developing sustainable development in local economies. It suggests that this process will involve intervention in the market in a way not dissimilar to that adopted in the 1980s by local authorities concerned with developing socially progressive economic strategies and that this process might be termed “social environmentalism”.     

Rethinking the role of the service sector in local economic revitalisation

This article evaluates the role of the service sector in revitalising local economies. Using case study evidence from the Fens, the view that services are “parasitic” activities is refuted. Instead, services are shown to contribute positively to local economic rejuvenation not only as “basic” activities which bring income into local economies from outside but also, just as importantly, as locally-oriented activities which stop income from leaking out of the locality. The consequences of this reconceptualisation of services for the nature of local economic policy are addressed.     

Third time right? The EC's third action programme for women

Amid the welter of “new initiatives” from Brussels promoting social integration is a programme for women which appears to offer something new. Nothing in the way of new money, nor novel employment projects, rather a distinctly feminist flavour: “equality” is now to be integrated “into general mainstream policy”; grassroot action - organisation at the local and regional level - is required; working life has to be “reconciled” with family responsibilities and, finally, “women's unequal representation in all spheres of decision making” has to be addressed.

How far this rhetoric will translate into enhanced employment prospects for women, especially women in this country, is nevertheless highly problematic.     

Managed workspace. Do tenants stay too long?

The managed workspace format rose to prominence as a tool for local economic development during the 1980s, Its popularity has continued into the 1990s, offering support for new and small firms in their early stages of operation through the provision of suitable premises and a “protected environment”. In this article, evidence is presented to indicate that a significant proportion of tenant firms are, in fact, remaining in managed workspace well beyond the early stages of operation for which it is primarily intended, and we examine the reasons for this. Most significantly, this examination reveals that the added costs associated with the provision of the “protected environment” often appear to produce little in the way of added value for these more mature tenant firms, and on this basis we conclude with a call for a reappraisal of the role for managed workspace in local economic development policies.     

Local governance and urban prospects: The potential of city pride

The recent re-alignment of urban policy, involving the promotion of a diversity of public-private partnerships, a fostering of local business elites, and the increasing importance of city marketing and image reconstruction, all point in the direction of a “new localism” in urban regeneration. Focusing on the potential of the recent City Pride initiative in building up consensual and holistic “visions” of Britain's main cities, the following set of papers assess the role of the “urban prospectus” in fostering local coalitions and the benefits of mutuality in order to address issues of resource procurement and allocation. The potential of this new approach for targeting large-scale programme and project investment in the local economy, infra-structural priorities and aspects of social cohesion are all considered by the contributing authors, who look specifically at recent developments in London, Manchester and Birmingham.     

Building and sustaining inter-firm networks. Lessons from training and enterprise councils

The academic discussion of business co-operation and networks is often undertaken in fairly abstract terms. The objective of this paper is to add some realism through “on-the-ground” examples of inter-firm networks in which Training and Enterprise Councils (TECS) have acted in a facilitating and supportive capacity. This paper considers the practicalities and problems that TECs, often in the shape of “network brokers”, have encountered in facilitating the building and sustaining of local inter-firm networks, primarily among SMEs, in a number of differing scenarios. It was found that the most effective and sustainable networks are initially based on informal relations, such as those developed through voluntary attendance at “learning” workshops and seminars. As trust emerges and bonds are gradually gained these arrangements may evolve into more formal and long-term associations. It is suggested that the initial focus of projects should consist of expanding the “stakeholder webs” of SMEs through learning networks that focus on building the stock of social capital. Furthermore, gaining sufficient reserves of social capital should be considered prior to the planning of any formal “dotted line” commercial or innovation-based relations.     

Local country attributes and the emergence of high tech clusters

The aim of this study is to explore the effect of a country’s attributes on the decision of firms to be active globally. We first built a theoretical model, which shows that an initial difference in the business environment may dampen the desire of firms located in countries with a relatively weak business environment to seek a higher level of R&D. The decision not to pursue higher levels of R&D leads, in turn, to lower output and lower scope of activity of global firms in these countries. Moreover, firms with relatively high level of management skills will choose to migrate from a relatively weak country to one with a stronger business environment, creating a brain drain that will further impoverish the weak country.     

Cable and local economic development: Local authority roles and responses

There has been much recent comment about the development of the “information superhighway” and the opportunities that this will create for economic development. Yet elements of such a superhighway are already in place through the activities of cable companies in the UK This paper outlines the development of cable to date and examines the response of local authorities to such developments.     

Small firms and local economic development in South London

A growing body of literature has identified a number of potential constraints on small firm growth. Arguably, the severity of these constraints is closely related to the differing fortunes of industries and firms and the extent of localised external economies or diseconomies. This paper looks at the constraints facing manufacturing and business service firms in a large urban area. The paper draws on findings from a survey of small firms in Croydon. Data from the survey reveal some differences between small manufacturing and service firms in their experience of the urban environment. Physical constraints on expansion and labour shortages appear to be hindering small manufacturing firms in Croydon. Deficiencies in specific niches of the local business service sector may be preventing small business service firms from complementing and enhancing their internal capabilities. The problems facing small firms in Croydon and the sorts of local policy initiatives being developed are likely to be applicable to other large urban areas.     

Integrating the economic and the social. Policy and institutional change in local economic strategy

Since the mid-1990s policy “integration” has become an increasingly salient theme within central government and local government policy-making. In this paper we report survey findings tracing the recent emergence of explicitly “integrated” local economic and social strategies, and the evolving position of ostensibly social themes in local economic strategies. These highlight some of the more important policy and institutional changes that have characterised local economic strategy in the post-Thatcher era. Subsequently, in the light of this initial data we outline a number of possible directions for further research.     

Minority firms, racism and economic development

Despite the prominence of minority firms within inner-city areas across the country, relatively little is known of their makeup, problems and relations with external agencies. Drawing on a study of 50 Asian employers and key players in local support bodies in the typical inner-city area of Wolverhampton, this paper assesses the market and managerial structure of minority firms, and their links with support agencies. It is argued that racism is a significant constraint on the development of such firms; and that current support from external agencies is lacking. A more focused and higher profile role for a dedicated “Asian Business Unit” is suggested as a strategy for the development of minority enterprise.     

Entrepreneurship and business culture in Japan and the U.S.

It seems to me likely that entrepreneurship will take a different path in Japan than it has in the U.S. Given the prominence of large organizations in key areas of Japan's economy and the emphasis its society places on lifetime employment relationships, many of the “startups” of the sort that transformed the American business are more likely to happen within existing firms rather than as new enterprises. Such development, called “intrapreneurship” in the U.S. requires new institutional structures and rewards. Such changes will not come easily, because they run against the grain of Japanese society and business culture, yet I believe that success will come to those who can execute such strategies.     

Telecommunications and the local economy: Some emerging policy issues

This paper provides a brief overview of the issues which surround local economic development and telecommunications. The implications of telecommunications for urban and regional development in the present “information-based” era are outlined and the seven basic features of this development are described. Some necessary steps and conceptual approaches to developing specifically local development policies in this new area are then expounded by way of the development of a “framework for the local policy maker”. Finally, several leading attempts at developing locally controlled telecommunications infrastructures in the UK, as agents of economic and social development, are briefly analysed.     

Playing the defence card: Local authority responses to the 1992 regional policy consultation paper

After two decades or more of hope, the jubilation over the relaxing of the “cold war” is tempered in those localities dependent in some way on the defence industries. In June 1992, the UK government produced a consultation paper on the topic of regional industrial policy and this provided an opportunity for defence-related local authorities to “flag up” their problems. The review event offers a common reference activity around which to compare the occurrence and the nature of local reactions. This article investigates the responses from a large sample of these local authorities, exploring the arguments put forward, the representations made, and the strategies deployed. It also tries to account for the various attitudes and reports on the outcome of the review process. Amongst an array of interesting findings, the analysis reveals a range of response strategies by local authorities and a variety of attitudes to policy support.     

Community businesses are their aims confused?

Glen Buchanan has given a chilling outline of the conditions from which community businesses have arisen, and communicated something of the idealism of their genesis. Mike Jacobs shares the ideals, but is worried by the way in which they are expressed. He writes: “Glen claims that community businesses are 'completely different' from public and private sector companies. I think they could be, but the way Glen describes them they are probably not.”     

Stakeholding and the local economy

During the 1980s local economic policy became an issue of major political concern. The polarisation of the New Right market-led strategies advanced by the Thatcher governments and the New Left-inspired counter-response, typified by the last years of the GLC, reflected the tenor of national political and economic debates at the time. Arguably, in the 10 years since the abolition of the GLC, local economic development has been devoid (some might say spared) of any “big idea” arising from wider political debates. Recently, however, there have been signs that a new political direction may be emerging at the national level with significant implications for local economic policy. That direction is the notion of stakeholding.     

It is time to start “Rethinking Socialist Economics”

For the next few years, economic and employment policies will be dominated by the Conservative Government's programme. However, the debate on “alternative” policies should not be allowed to die. This review suggests that the issues raised by “Rethinking Socialist Economics” deserves serious attention.