A study of the crisis of the special steels sector in Sheffield reveals major weaknesses both in traditional strategies for restructuring such as nationalisation and in new ones such as local economic strategies. Strategic choices in the sector are constrained by interdependence with sectors like the automobile industry and by the political and economic restrictions of the EEC. Meanwhile creeping privatisation continues. The authors argue that any alternative strategy must operate at each of these levels to be effective.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bank, J. & Jones, K. (1977) Worker directors speak. Gower, Farnborough.
2.
Beynon, H., Hudson, R. & Sadler, D. (1986) ‘Nationalised industries and the destruction of communities: some evidence from north east England’, Capital & Class29, 27–57.
3.
Brannen, P., Batstone, E., Fatchett, D. & White, P. (1976) The worker directors. Hutchinson, London.
4.
Bryer, R.A., Brignall, T.J. & Maunders, A.R. (1982) Accounting for British Steel. Gower, Aldershot.
5.
Clark, N., Critchley, R., Hall, D., Kline, R. & Whitfield, D. (1986) ‘The Sheffield Council Jobs Audit—why and how?’Local Economy1(4), 3–21.
6.
Garrahan, P. (1986) ‘Nissan in the north east of England’, Capital & Class27, 5–13.
7.
House of Commons (1985) Control and Monitoring of investment by British Steel Corporation in private sector companies—the Phoenix operations. Public Accounts Committee, London.
8.
Hudson, R. & Sadler, D. (1987) Special steels in south Yorkshire, the UK and Europe. Report to Sheffield City Council. Copy available from Department of Employment and Economic Development, Pinstone Street, Sheffield.
9.
International Iron and Steel Institute (1983) Steel and the automotive sector. Brussels.
10.
McEachern, D. (1979) ‘Parry government and the class interest of capital: conflict over the steel industry 1945-70’, Capital & Class8, 125–43.
11.
McEachern, D. (1980) A class against itself: power and the nationalisation of the British steel industry. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
12.
NEDO (1986) Steel: the world market and the UK steel industry. London.
13.
Radice, H. (1984) ‘The national economy—a Keynesian myth?’Capital & Class22, 111–40.
14.
Ross, G.W. (1965) The nationalisation of steel: one step forward, two steps back?Macgibbon and Kee, London.
15.
Sayer, A. (1986) ‘New developments in manufacturing: the just-in-time system’, Capital & Class30, 43–72.
16.
Sheffield City Council (1984) Steel in crisis: alternatives to government policy and the decline in South Yorkshire's steel industry.
17.
Sheffield City Council (1987) Working it out—an outline employment plan for Sheffield.
18.
Shutt, J. (1986) Industrial decline in Sheffield: where will we be in 1990?Department of Employment and Economic Development, Sheffield City Council.
