Producer Services Research in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This paper reviews recent research in the United Kingdom on producer services and suggests directions for further research. A recurrent theme in UK-based geographic research into producer services is the role of service activities, establishments, and trade in uneven development of the UK space economy, a role manifested in uneven provision and quality of services in peripheral regions. During the 1980s, overall growth in demand for producer services and the rapid rise in metropolitan London real estate costs reduced London's dominance, but these trends moderated by the end of the decade. In the absence of adequate government statistics, regular and standardized surveys are needed to compile a time series of service change in the United Kingdom. Directions for continued empirical research include the role of producer services in innovation and technology transfer, the implications of information technology for the location of employment in the sector, and the impacts of productivity increases on employmen...