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UK economy and business environment. Simon Sweeney Head of Programme MA International Studies 5 December 2007. History Economic structure Business culture. Background. Early industrialisation Empire Global presence 20 th Century decline Post-war decolonisation 1950s prosperity.
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UK economy and business environment Simon Sweeney Head of Programme MA International Studies 5 December 2007
History • Economic structure • Business culture
Background • Early industrialisation • Empire • Global presence • 20th Century decline • Post-war decolonisation • 1950s prosperity
Recent history • 1960s economic decline • 1970s economic crisis • 1980s Thatcherism • 1990s economic turbulence • Decline of manufacturing • Rise of service sector
Economic structure • GDP is 73.1% from services • 23.1% manufacturing • Agriculture and primary extraction 3.7% • Employment (27m) share 82.2/16.6/1.1% (1964 manufacturing employment was 47%) (Griffiths & Wall, 2007, p.6, p.8).
Oil and gas • Oil crisis in 1973 • UK self sufficient in oil by 1980 • Stable and high exchange rate of pound sterling 1979-83 • 1980s saw falling oil prices and falling pound • 1990 UK barely self sufficient in oil • 2005 trade deficit in oil • Strong oil and gas revenues in 1980s wasted paying for high social welfare costs as unemployment rose to 3m
Business culture • So-called ‘Anglo Saxon’ model • Shareholder democracy • Stock market/FTSE/LSE key drivers of UK business culture • Privatisation/liberalisation/free movement of capital • Openness to foreign direct investment
‘Free market’ economy • Floating exchange rate • ‘Strong’ pound sterling • Openness to high levels of immigration • Major inward FDI (and outward) • Major centre for multinational corporation (MNC) activity • Relatively low taxation/low corporation tax
Numbers Population 60m GDP growth 2.2% UK gdp $2.84trn gdp/c $46,740 France $2.68trn $43,640 Germany $3.43trn $41,400
Major industries • Banking, finance and real estate • Telecommunications • Pharmaceuticals • Defence and aeronautics • Oil and chemical sector • Automotive (>2m vehicles/annum) • Retail • Leisure, tourism and the arts
s.sweeney@yorksj.ac.uk Simon Sweeney is Head of MA International Studies at York St John University. He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the UK Higher Education Academy in 2006. He is also a UK British Council Socrates Erasmus Bologna Expert. He is doing PhD research at the University of Leeds on European Security and Defence Policy post-Iraq 2003. He is author of Europe, the State and Globalisation (Longman, 2005). Visit www.simonsweeney.net