ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the structure and performance of the electronics industry in Britain, together with the characteristics of its workforce and explores its role in the structuring of the British space economy. It provides the ensuing detailed studies of South Wales and the M4 corridor. At the centre of Britain’s hopes for an industrial renaissance stands the electronics industry. The position of the indigenous consumer electronics industry deteriorated rapidly during the 1970s largely because of the superior product, process and marketing performance of Japanese companies. The contribution of an industry to regional development clearly depends not just on the level of activity in a region but also on the character of that activity. Central Scotland’s electronics industry has been perceived as one of the great regional success stories. The main impetus behind the growth of the electronics industry in Scotland has come through inward investment from large English and overseas companies.
