ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses at six industries in which Britain was once either a world leader or known to be competitively strong when compared with major foreign rivals, but which have consistently declined over certain years and, in some cases, been completely decimated. They are: shipbuilding, motor cars, motor trucks, motor cycles, bicycles, and television. The chapter reviews over forty studies/analyses, spanning the period 1952-85, that indicates clearly that the symptoms and causes of the UK's steady decline in world trade are multifarious and multifaceted. Analysis of the Appendix enables one to draw up a short list of important and probably the most widely mentioned characteristics, which may be categorised under four main headings, namely, 'Price,' 'Design', 'Non-Price', and 'Design-related management factors'. Design factor ranges from lack of value for money, lack of technical quality through unreliability, absence of aesthetic appeals, poor packaging, design not up-to-date, to use of inferior materials.
