ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the spatial consequences of manufacturing change in the West Midlands that has resulted from globalisation. It focuses on the processes of polycentric development that are reshaping the region's metal manufacturing activities. The West Midlands is the region of the United Kingdom (UK) in which the implications of the end of old economic certainties are at their most pronounced. It was once the UK's most prosperous region and an economic powerhouse based on manufacturing. The linked enterprise system of the West Midlands might show signs of continuation to the present; the system has also undergone radical restructuring at various times, and especially since the 1940s. Fordism and mass production brought major changes to the West Midlands regional economy: the limited liability company replaced the family firm and the entrepreneur; mergers brought a loss of local control and corporate concentration; the scale of production increased as did the extent of vertical integration.
