East Asian Direct Investment in Britain

The North of England has claimed more inward investment from East Asia than any other region in Britain, or indeed any region in the other member states of the European Union. Specialists from business organization and management join with political economists and geographers to consider how this Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has influenced change in the region, and plot the dynamics of this particularly British phenomenon. The contributors investigate the main indicators of change and the interaction with FDI from East Asia against the background of profound changes in the regional economy since the mid 1980s, specially the part played by FDI in boosting successive phases of post-war regional economic development planning. They discuss in particular how the North has met the challenge of its long-term decline and, now that this source of FDI is levelling off and there are signs of dis-investment, the implications for the region. Specific aspects - such as private and public sector collaboration, local government, and employment relations - are analyzed with a view to determining which have been most directly affected. The book concludes with a discussion of the causes and consequences of the East Asian economic crisis and some of the likely long-term effects of the crisis for East Asia and for the global economy more generally.