ABSTRACT
Electrical engineering in South Wales provides striking contrasts with the region’s traditional industries of coal and steel, but it also contains some significant internal contrasts. Only one firm of any size in the sector actually originated in South Wales and the region has the highest degree of external control of any in Britain in the sector. This is to be expected given the dearth of professional and managerial people in the region and the fact that the industry has been the most prominent in post-war inter-regional movements of plants and among the sectors with the highest penetration of foreign capital. The British home microcomputer industry appeared to be the most robust in Europe in the early eighties. The main telecommunications plants in South Wales clearly illustrate the dichotomized structure of the industry. South Wales was selected because it combined regional development grants with access to London and proximity to British Telecom, its major customer.
