ABSTRACT
We now give further attention to the nature of the products manufactured by Americanaffiliated firms in the UK and the role which they have played, both in helping to improve the level of industrial efficiency, and in raising the living standards of the domestic consumer. Chapter 2 has already shown that in 1954, of the 205 US subsidiaries and Anglo-American firms comprising our sample, 129-with a labour force of 160,000-manufactured in whole, or in part, capital goods bought by other firms.1 Moreover, a further examination of these items shows that the specific purpose of most of them is the implementation of new production techniques or processes, which, in turn, help to raise efficiency, improve quality, reduce waste and lower costs. Significantly, the resulting impact has not only been confined to the manufacturing sector: the economic prosperity and technical expertise of the farmer, office manager, building contractor and mining engineer has been no less affected. The seventy-six remaining firms, employing 86,000 people, have helped add to the material well-being of the domestic purchaser by making available an increased range and variety of consumer goods-sometimes at lower prices.
