In this paper, I focus upon the role of large multinational corporations in the restructuring of local economies, using Bristol as a study area. In the first part of the paper, I concentrate upon the impact of the current recession on the city's manufacturing sector. The major local employers are identified and the pattern of corporate ownership and control discussed. An attempt is then made to trace out the impacts of different forms of corporate change during the period 1978–1982. In the second part of the paper, I concentrate on one large multinational corporation which has long associations with the Bristol area, and trace some of the local impacts of different phases of corporate growth over a longer time period. This paper is only a preliminary to a deeper and more wide-ranging analysis of the local economy, and, in the conclusions, I identify various lines of further inquiry.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlfordB W, 1973W D & H O Wills and the Development of the United Kingdom Tobacco Industry 1786–1965 (Methuen, Andover, Hants)
2.
AlfordB W, 1976, “Strategy and structure in the UK tobacco industry” in Management Strategy and Business Development Ed. HannahLMacmillan, London) pp 73–84
3.
Bristol Evening Post, 1983, “Rolls losses revive fears for factory” 30 March, page 5
4.
Business Statistics Office, 1979Business Monitor: Analyser of United Kingdom Manufacturing (Local) Units by Employment Size PA 1003, Department of Industry (HMSO, London)
5.
ChannonD F, 1973The Strategy and Structure of British Enterprise (Macmillan, London)
6.
ClarkeI, 1982, “The changing international division of labour within ICI” in The Geography of Multinationals Eds. TaylorMThriftNCroom Helm, Beckenham, Kent) pp 90–116
7.
CorinaM, 1975Trust in Tobacco: The Anglo—American Struggle for Power (Michael Joseph, London)
DickenPLloydP, 1978, “Inner metropolitan change, enterprise structure and policy issues: Case studies of Manchester and Merseyside”Regional Studies12181–197
Imperial Group, 1979, “The story of Imperial Group”Imperial Group Information Brochure; copy available from Group Public Affairs Department, Imperial Group Ltd, Imperial House, 1 Grosvenor Place, London SW1X 7HB, England
Investors Chronicle, 1979, “Bird in the hand” 7 September, page 694
21.
Investors Chronicle, 1980, “Dickinson Robinson: Company profile” 8 February, supplement page xi
22.
LloydPReeveD, 1982, “North-West England 1971–77: A study in industrial decline and economic restructuring”Regional Studies16345–360
23.
MartinR L, 1982, “Job loss and the regional incidence of redundancies in the current recession”Cambridge Journal of Economics6375–396
24.
MasseyDMeeganR, 1982The Anatomy of Job Loss (Methuen, Andover, Hants)
25.
MilesN, 1982, “The spatial decentralisation of manufacturing growth and the restructuring of the labour process” DP-3, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, Aldwych, London WC2A 2AE, England
PraisS, 1976The Evolution of Giant Firms in Britain (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
28.
ScottJ, 1979Corporations, Classes and Capitalism (Hutchinson, London)
29.
TaylorMThriftN, 1982, “Models of corporate development and the multinational corporation” in The Geography of Multinationals Eds TaylorMThriftNCroom Helm, Beckenham, Kent) pp 14–32
30.
The Guardian, 1981, “The cut of Courtaulds” 27 November, page 15
31.
The Guardian, 1982, “Free from the hammerlock” 2 February, page 19
32.
TownsendA R, 1982, “Recession and the regions in Great Britain, 1976–1980: Analysis of redundancy data”Environment and Planning A141389–1404
33.
WattsH, 1980The Large Industrial Enterprise (Croom Helm, Beckenham, Kent)
34.
WattsH, 1981The Branch Plant Economy: A Study of External Control (Longman, Harlow, Essex)
