Britain’s Industrial Evolution: The Structuring Role of Economic Theory

We trace the coevolution of industrial organization and the ideas and policies that have influenced Britain’s industrial development from Alfred Marshall’s pioneering work on the English industrial districts to the present. Then, we examine four contemporary districts — in footwear, motorsport, sparkling wine, and cyber security — that are internationally competitive, despite decades of ill-informed policy choices, if not neglect. We also investigate the case of British elite sport as a high-performance industrial cluster with potentially transferrable institutional arrangements, particularly with regard to the nature and role of the strategic lead body and the state, as well as relationships within the system. We conclude that Marshall’s methodological and theoretical approach to understanding industrial organization — and his belief that industrial districts would coexist with other forms of industrial organization (rather than be superseded by them) — helps to explain the dynamism of contemporary British industrial districts, with important implications for Britain’s industrial revitalization.     

Formal volunteering and self-perceived health. Causal evidence from the UK-SILC

The paper assesses the causal relationship between formal volunteering and individual health. The econometric analysis employs data provided by the Income and Living Conditions Survey for the United Kingdom carried out by the European Union’s Statistics (UK-SILC) in 2006. Based on 2SLS, treatment effect and recursive bivariate probit models, and religious participation as instrument variable, and controlling for social and cultural capital, our results show a positive effect of formal volunteering on self-perceived health.     

Telephone and cable companies: Rivals or partners in video distribution?

This paper examines the evolving relationships between telephone and cable companies in light of changes in video distribution technologies, costs and regulations. It covers the technological requirements for multichannel video transmission, telco plans for local video distribution and the prospects for hybrid cable/telco services. Competition between the two industries in the USA seems likely in the 1990s.     

Britain's national food survey: Whose purpose does it serve?

Britain's National Food Survey is described in terms of its historical and present purpose. The authors make a critique of the survey. Criticisms include: sampling errors; poor response rate; behaviour changes and individual interpretation of the questionnaire; classification, presentation, and duplication of results. Detailed recommendations for improving the survey are presented. Suggestions are made in the following areas: the justification for the survey, the methodology used, the analysis and presentation of results.     

Waterway freight transport — survival or revival?

The author sees the official opening of the first new stretch of commercial waterway in the UK since 1905 as possibly the initial step towards a reappraisal of inland freight transportation. She explains the relative value of this method of transport in the 1980s despite the constant failure of successive UK governments to promote its use. A comparison is made of the decline of the UK inland waterway system of the Industrial Revolution, and the growth of the Western European system of the 20th century. The author pinpoints the West German and Dutch examples and returns to the UK situation in an attempt to understand why it has been so different. An analysis of recent moves by the UK legislature is given and the article concludes with a plea for some fundamental rethinking in UK transport planning.     

Quantifying the employment effects of micro-electronics

The paper attempts to quantify some of the compensatory effects on employment which may offset the direct displacement effects of faster technological change. It is argued that technological change will not necessarily increase unemployment levels. There are a number of compensating effects which may reduce and even outweigh any initial displacement effects. The study uses simulation techniques with a detailed model of the UK economy. One conclusion is that, even if the UK does not innovate as fast as its major competitors, a more rapid rate of diffusion of new technology may result in higher employment than would otherwise be the case.     

Testing the Gershuny hypothesis

This article tests the Gershuny hypothesis using UK input-output data. Gershuny has suggested that in many countries the share of consumer expenditure devoted to private or marketed services has not risen over time. Rather, consumers have tended to substitute durable goods and their own labour for purchased services. The UK data do provide support for this argument.     

Strategic Formulation and Communication of Corporate Environmental Policy Statements: UK Firms’ Perspective

This paper suggests that most of the FTSE-listed firms in the United Kingdom use corporate environmental policy statements (CEPS) to communicate their strategic intent of what environmental and social targets to attain, and broad guidelines of how they will progressively achieve all the required changes and new developments. In this paper, we link the contents of CEPS of a sample of FTSE-listed firms (from the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industry that are committed to develop business excellence) to the voluntary participation in the environmental benchmarking exercise and the various levels of environmental performance therein. The findings suggest that in contrast to their non-participating counterparts, the strategic focus of the participating firms transcends from simply mitigating any potential damages that their operations might have on the environment to business process reengineering and building new implementation capabilities. However, not all of the participating firms achieved excellence in their environmental performance, the high performing firms outweighed their counterparts on their emphasis on technological competence and competitiveness, and interestingly, the average-performing firms would use the strategic emphasis on social responsibility to compensate for their mediocre technological competence.     

Teamworking and Lean revisited: a reply to Carter et al.

This paper is a reply to Carter et al.’s response to an earlier paper of ours in this journal on the subject of teamworking under Lean in the UK public services . Our reply covers the following issues which Carter et al. have raised: the literature we used to structure our findings; the way in which we used concepts such as autonomy and teamworking; our research methods and approach; how Carter et al.’s newly available data on teamworking might be interpreted; and how data drawn from an official employee attitude survey might best be understood. On the basis of this, we conclude that Carter et al.’s paper fails to meet its objectives. On some things, the authors are simply wrong; on others, they grossly misrepresent our position; on still others, their interpretations are, at best, highly questionable.     

UK PhD assessment in accounting and finance: social capital in action

Assessment lies at the centre of PhD degree quality standards, with quality assurance relying on independent external examiners. This study investigates the role of the viva and the selection of external examiners from within the accounting and finance discipline across UK institutions. A questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with academics (299 respondents; 49 interviews) and recent PhD graduates (73 respondents; 18 interviews) were undertaken. Findings identify multiple viva roles including verification; academic career development; and assessment. External examiner selection is outcome-driven, and the independence of examiners is questionable when secured using the social capital existing between an examiner and supervisor. Supervisors and examiners jointly gate-keep the academic community within cliques, although at the viva stage new entrants are rarely excluded. The PhD assessment process offers the opportunity for rogue cliques to develop, driven by favourable outcomes in terms of personal benefits and costs, allowing new entrants of insufficient quality.