Policy Review Section

Abstract

In this Policy Review Section, Alan Hughes of the Small Business Research Centre, Cambridge University, examines trends in the small firm sector during the 1980s. A major part of the changes in the numbers of small firms in the UK manufacturing sector is shown to be the result of a change in the way the data are collected. Increases in the number of small businesses in manufacturing and the economy as a whole have been heavily concentrated in the very smallest size classes. It is concluded that there is a need to shift the emphasis in policy making away from removing barriers to new start-ups and towards alleviating barriers to the survival of existing efficient smaller businesses. In the second article Ash Amin and John Tomaney of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, University of Newcastle, review the various policy measures which central government and the private sector have pursued in the North East in the 1980s. They conclude that there is a mismatch between the underlying economic problems of the North East and the urban regeneration initiatives on offer which, through various forms of private-public sector partnership, have sought to map out a vision of a post-industrial future based on growth-inducing service industries. Given the clear limits to personal expenditure in the North East and intensifying competition from identical strategies elsewhere, it is questioned whether such a consumption-led strategy can guarantee sustainable growth.