Aspects of industrial mobility in the British economy

Hamilton F. E. I. (1978) Aspects of industrial mobility in the British economy, Reg. Studies 12, 153–165. A large sample of British firms in a wide range of industries demonstrated accelerated spatial mobility in production and non-production functions alike during the 1960's, both through the closure, opening or relocation of operating units and through the differential growth (or decline), varied product innovation and functional substitution among their constituent facilities. If government is to control or channel industrial functions it must equip itself with proper statistical measures of quantitative and qualitative change. Factors in the decision-making environment of firms in the 1960's stimulated production diffusion from larger cities and their inner areas both intra- and interregionally while simultaneously encouraging greater intra-and interregional centralization of non-production manufacturing functions. A major force in these conflicting trends has been the interregionalization of industrial firms, partly through accelerated acquisition activity, that has led to increasingly rapid turnover in functional use of factory and commercial premises throughout Britain.