The impact of direct foreign investment upon industrial structure. A case study of the uk electrical and instrument engineering industry: A reappraisal of the model of industrial structure incorporating the impact of direct foreign investment, utilising empirical evidence from a survey of the electrical and instrument engineering industry.

View/ Open
Newton.pdf (16.02Mb)
Download
Publication date
2009-10-02T15:03:40ZAuthor
Newton, David J.Supervisor
Buckley, Peter J.Keyword
High technology industriesElectrical and instrument engineering
Drect foreign investment
United Kingdom
Foreign affiliates
Market penetration
Rights

The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
Institution
University of BradfordDepartment
Postgraduate School of Studies in Management and AdministrationAwarded
1979
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
With the development of multinational corporations, the United Kingdom has experienced increasing penetration of its economy by foreign affiliates. This is particularly noticeable in high technology industries such as Electrical and Instrument Engineering. The thesis identifies the mechanism by which direct foreign investment can influence industrial structure in such an industry; charts the effects within the UK Electrical and Instrument Engineering Industry; and identifies the extent to which this impact varies with the nationality of the investor. The study begins with a synthesis of the comprehensive and complex material available upon industrial/market structure and direct foreign investment. Chapters 2 and 3 demonstrate that the structure of Electrical and Instrument Engineering has changed significantly since the inter-war years. Productive capacity has expanded faster than that of any other UK industry. Throughout the minimum-list-headings of the industry market power has become more concentrated in the hands of the largest companies. Individual affiliates now display greater product specialisation and vertical integration, whilst the level of entry barriers has risen steadily. The model presented in chapter-3 hypothesises that direct foreign investment can be related to industrial structure in three distinct ways. Firstly, that a relationship exists between the distribution of foreign affiliates 11 25 I and the structural characteristics of the industries in which they operate. Secondly, that a similar relationship exists across the minimum-list-headings of each individual industry. Thirdly, that the operating characteristics of foreign affiliates in any individual minimum-list-heading differ from those of domestic companies. The first two of these are termed the Destination impact, and the third the Behavioural impact of direct foreign investment. The results of a survey of over 500 British and foreign owned companies, sub-divided by origin and size, suggest that foreign affiliates have contributed significantly to the changing structure of Electrical and Instrument Engineering both in their destination and behaviour. The destination of foreign investors was significantly related to areas displaying the fastest growth of productive capacity; imperfection of competition; technologically specialised and vertically integrated operations; and high barriers to entry. The behaviour of individual foreign affiliates was found to differ significantly from that of their UK counterparts (including affiliates of UK multinationals). Foreign owned companies exhibited high levels of sales. growth and efficiency; a disproportionate impact upon the distribution of market power; greater product specialisation and levels of vertical integration; and a significant contribution to the level of entry barriers. This influence was compounded by a greater productivity and profitability in the foreign affiliate; a differing pattern of geographical location to that of UK owned establishments; and a domestic reaction by UK companies and the government to foreign penetration. Variations within the foreign group were related to geographical origin. The total operations of US affiliates were most significant, but investors from EEC countries displayed characteristics which varied most from those of UK companies. The study concludes by relating changes in industrial structure to the presence of foreign affiliates, and outlining the implications of further foreign involvementType
ThesisQualification name
PhDCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Industrial Nationalism versus European Partnerships: An Analysis of State-led Franco-German Inter-firm LinkagesTrouille, Jean-Marc (2014-12)This paper examines the impact of state intervention in French-German inter-firm linkages and discusses the implications of conflicting national interests for the furthering of single market integration. It demonstrates that despite initial success in launching large-scale cross-border alliances in strategic sectors, France and Germany have remained divided by their own industrial nationalism. It argues that their respective attitudes towards industrial policy are less contradictory than would appear at first sight, but that transcending industrial nationalism by Europeanising the notion of economic patriotism would be an essential pre-condition for a more efficient EU-wide industrial policy within a better integrated internal market.
-
The development of industrial clusters and public policy.McDonald, Frank; Tsagdis, D.; Huang, Q. (2006)This paper assesses the relationships between public policy and the development of industrial clusters. A conceptual model of the relationship between public policies and the development of industrial clusters is developed and tested using data from 43 European industrial clusters. The results indicate that most government policies have no significant impact on the growth of industrial clusters or for the development of co-operation within industrial clusters. There is limited evidence that packages of government policies that are specifically geared towards improving the local asset base are effective in overcoming obstacles to growth of industrial clusters. However, when age is used as a control variable the weak relationship between policy packages and growth of industrial clusters disappear. The results indicate that individual and packages of public policies are not strongly connected to either high levels of co-operation, or high growth in industrial clusters. Moreover, no clear evidence was found that high levels of co-operation were associated with growth in industrial districts. In the light of the failure to find clear-cut associations between public policies and the development of industrial clusters the paper outlines a research agenda to help to increase our understanding of these issues.
-
Advancing Industrial Relations Theory: An Analytical Synthesis of British-American and Pluralist-Radical IdeasKaufman, B.E.; Gall, Gregor (2015-09)Prominent writers in industrial relations (IR) have concluded the field is in significant decline, partly because of a failed theory base. The theory problem is deepened because other writers conclude developing a theory foundation for industrial relations is neither possible nor desirable. We believe advancing IR theory is both needed and possible, and take up the challenge in this paper. A long-standing problem in theorizing industrial relations has been the lack of agreement on the field’s core analytical construct. However, in the last two decades writers have increasingly agreed the field is centred on the employment relationship. Another long-standing problem is that writers have theorized industrial relations using different theoretical frames of reference, including pluralist and radical-Marxist; different disciplinary perspectives, such as economics, sociology, history, and politics; and from different national traditions, such as British, French, and American. In this paper, we seek to advance IR theory and better integrate paradigms and national traditions. We do this by developing an analytical explanation for four core features of the employment relationship—generation of an economic surplus, cooperation-conflict dialectic, indeterminate nature of the employment contract, and asymmetric authority and power in the firm—using an integrative mix of ideas and concepts from the pluralist and radical-Marxist streams presented in a multi-part diagram constructed with marginalist tools from conventional economics. The diagram includes central IR system components, such as labour market, hierarchical firm, macro-economy, and nation state government. The model is used to explain the four features of the employment relationship and derive implications for IR theory and practice. Examples include the diagrammatic representation of the size and distribution of the economic surplus, a new analytical representation of labour exploitation, identification of labour supply conditions that encourage, respectively, cooperation versus conflict, and demonstration of how inequality of bargaining power in labour markets contributes to macroeconomic stagnation and unemployment.