In the 1980 recession, the UK dropped a significant 25% of national value added in two years. Japan on the other hand, saw a continued increase of an overall 238%. In the 1990 recession both countries faced a major decline, Japan 50% and the UK 30%. During the 1980s and 1990s recessions Britain�s overseas competitors tolerated declining profitability that helped to ensure maintenance of capacity. It may be argued that Britain�s economy declined due to its internal structure while her competitors revived because of theirs. This explains why during the economic booms all except British manufacturing experienced value added growth that exceeded previous peeks.
Historically the United Kingdom shifted from an agrarian based economy to one of manufacturing. The late twentieth century brought further changes to Britain�s sectoral favoritism with encouragement from the newly elected government. Between 1958 and 1979 value added in Britain grew steadily with an overall 50% increase. Although there were a few decreases they may be attributed to regular cycles. In 1979 the Thatcher government won a fierce election. Unlike their predecessors they held relatively radical economic policies. The Thatcher government downsized industrial policy, restraint the growth of public expenditure, encouraged foreign investment and accepted the de-industrialization of the manufacturing sector, (Crafts).
The British economic structure had long been self-financed; this structure was in favour of shareholders and large investors. Management�s primary objectives was concern about increasing shareholder value rather then invest in technology. Surplus operating profits were mainly used to pay equity liabilities and to increase financial assets. Mayer shows that between 1970 and 1984 thirty per cent of the total finance of the corporate sector went into acquiring financial assets. In 1989 a three billion pound deficit appears due to the incurring financial changes in the ownership of said assets, (williams). In eastern Asian countries, by contrast, the function of the financial sector was to serve for the investment of new production. Excess profit was re-injected into the firm to provide a strong stable corporation as well as invest in production technology. Japan is a perfect example. They were able to reduce their production costs to provide a higher recovery cost. This resulted in Japan�s tolerance of declining profitability during the recessions and resulted in it�s increase in value added growth in manufacturing. A stable and predictable exchange rate and a stable corporate financial structure enabled this growth.
The �crowding-out� effect was the restriction of opportunity for the profit-making sectors by the growth of other parts of the economy, (Bacon). The expansion of the government and service sectors drew resources away from the manufacturing industry. Private sectors generally grow faster than public ones and the government had expanded into traditionally private sectors, such as social welfare and education. Overall government�s expenditure amounted to thirty per cent of the total GDP. Business opportunities were limited in the manufacturing industry and a cash surplus was difficult to sustain, (Bacon). The crowding-out led British firms to shift from manufacturing to the service industry. Changes in the sectoral composition suggest that some sectors are more cash generative than others and have growth rates which increase their contribution to value added. Manufacturers are transferring into the services industry because it promotes a higher return on capital, higher contribution to overheads, and larger profits. The growth in the service sector now amounts to two-thirds of the national income. Britain�s economy went through a stage of deindustrialization which led to a reduction of the contribution of manufacturing value added. (Haslam).
Manufacturing also has a higher labour cost share in value added than that of services. This can be shown in graph (insert graph number). UK employment dropped by almost 50% in a 20 year period. However, value added per employee increased by 150%. This could allude to the idea that Britain was changing into a service industry where labour costs were low and value added per employee was high due to the return rates. The UK�s competitors however, were able to employ a larger number of workers while expanding their manufacturing industry. Japan, increased its employment by 70% and its real value added by 369%. This suggests that although Japan remained in the manufacturing industry it was able to combine low wages, high production techniques, and a competitive price advantage.
When Britain began its shift into the service industry, it lost its share of world manufacturing output. While many large British firms were expanding and building their overseas productions, the manufacturing businesses which remained in Britain, were low tech and had high costs. The UK�s trade position weakened and lost its competitive edge. In thirty years, since 1950, the UK�s manufacturing output had halved. UK�s competitors were developing their industries faster and their domestic output was increasing. Competitors witnessed a growth in their manufacturing share of GDP, which was common to newly industrialized countries. Both Germany and Japan increased their share of world output through an expansion in manufacturing; Germany specialized in machines, tools, and engineering while Japan in electronics, motorbikes, and cars. Their international competitive positions strengthened and their share of manufacturing increased. Due to an investment in production they were able to produce units at a much lesser cost than that of the UK, and sold their outputs at an attractive higher western price. This allowed for a higher cost recovery for Britain�s competitors. Korea for example, was able to invert the usual 30-70 ratio where most countries realized 30 cents as cash or value added to the dollar, Korea realized 70. This was partially due to their lower labour costs per unit, which was dramatically lower, resulting in a strong cash recovery.
Eastern Asian countries combined a growing domestic market, low wages, and an efficient investment in production technology to catch-up to the British manufacturing sector and surpass the GDP growth. Britain�s failure to invest in production technology caused it to lag behind its competitors in the international market. Its inadequacy to improve its economic structure fell to political economic pressures. Between management�s concern with increasing shareholder value and movement of the sectoral composition, it can be argued that Britain decline in manufacturing was inevitable.
February 24, 2009
College, life lessons
When they say your world will turn around, your alcohol tolerance will exceed your expectations, your white clothes will turn pink, and you will wear nothing but tracksuits and hoodies, they were right.
College is always expressed as a place of learning, meeting new people, and learning to be independent. They were right, but they didn't tell you how.
you meet hundreds of new people every day, but, you either never see them again, forget what they look like in the mass of students (mostly they all look alike) or forget you ever met them (drunk encounters)
you not only meet new people everyday but you 'hook-up' with several guys in one night and wake up denying it ever happened because as long as you were concerned, you forget you even went to the club (pre-drinking)
when you meet people you remember them with unimportant tags (the french triplets, kuwaiti guy, greek girl with pimples, one without, the cigarette guy, short one, founders, x chris, guy from the first lecture, indian guy with the car, the guy that jumped over the seats, anorexic one)
you re-meet people without realizing and figure it out three introductions later
when someone looks familiar you don't know whether you met them, were in one of your workshops, asked you for a cig between class, or you facebook stalked off of someones profile, so you learn to keep your mouth shut.
college is a place of learning,
you learn that no one could care any less if you show up to class
you learn that when you don't show up to class, you have everything online
you learn that when you miss class they announce tests that even people who went to class forget about
you learn that no matter how much you go to class, study, read, or anything that involves the material assigned, the test will still be impossibly difficult, half the material you never covered before, and you always have two questions when there are 5 mins left
you learnt that the reading they assign is merely suggested reading and material which was suggested as extra "knowledge" will be on the exam
you learn that you will almost fail your classes, especially the really easy ones.
you learn that your group will always have an obsessive bossy team member a peace maker, and the rest will not give a rats ass
you learn that although someone signed in for your workshop, the one workshop you miss will be the one workshop where you will need to present something
you learn that no matter how many times you see your professors, they will never remember your name.
In college you learn to be independent
you will be independent because no one knows what the hell is going on, and most of the time you will be the only one that actually cares
there will be times where you are so drunk you can barely stand up, yet you are responsible for your friends who are passed out around you
you will be kicked out of clubs for smoking, causing a scene, or a friend puking, but you will learn to talk your way back in
you will forget what a proper restaurant looks like and every time a family member comes into town, you make an extra effort to show them the city (of course top restaurants, they pay)
before you refused to join anyone's table at a club which you barely know, but in college you will learn to lose all your pride and dignity and the moment you see someone you just recognize your all over them
in college you will make friends with people you could not stand before
in college you will have friends for every occasion
ie) drinking buddies (football team), clubbing buddies (friends you only see in clubs on their tables), house buddies (people always at your house for no reason), lunch buddies (people you meet up with in college only because your friends are still in their lectures), dinner buddies (people you meet occasionally for dinner, hang out a bit, never actually go out with), study buddy (people you see while working together on a project then they are never heard of again, or a bright kid whom you insist go out with you a couple of days before that online exam)
in college you expirence new things
you sleep on the floor because you think the bed is moving away from you (still drunk)
you manage to sit through the entire drinking games of the sports teams but at the end of the boat race you think your the mother fucking shit
you take your pants and bra off to be left in briefs and a shirt, but since you've been drinking you think your the hottest thing around, you wish you had waxed so you can take your shirt off
you hand in your scarf, coat, and pants to the cloak hangers in the SU
you find your bra on a mysterious boys head after which you must prove it is yours to get it back
you wake up after a night out and wonder why the hell you have a tag around your wrist and who the hell are these people that signed your shirt
you wake up after a night out to find a sticker on your head that says cool, a cig behind your ear, no pants, no keys, and no fucking clue how you actually made it home
you wake up and find a gazillion people in your living room who giggle the moment you walk in. You proceed by asking what is funny after which they laugh, you realize later in the day, after your friend tells you, that you were pole dancing the night before
waking up before 10 am means you havent gone to bed yet, waking up at 1 is early, and making it to all your classes that day is a miracle
the waiters at the cafe below your apartment stopped asking for id everytime you order a drink because you've become such good friends with them you go drinking together
smokin is a matter of rolling it not buying it
the tobacco lady at tesco smiles at you everytime you walk in
in conclusion,
College is always expressed as a place of learning, meeting new people, and learning to be independent. They were right, but they didn't tell you how.
you meet hundreds of new people every day, but, you either never see them again, forget what they look like in the mass of students (mostly they all look alike) or forget you ever met them (drunk encounters)
you not only meet new people everyday but you 'hook-up' with several guys in one night and wake up denying it ever happened because as long as you were concerned, you forget you even went to the club (pre-drinking)
when you meet people you remember them with unimportant tags (the french triplets, kuwaiti guy, greek girl with pimples, one without, the cigarette guy, short one, founders, x chris, guy from the first lecture, indian guy with the car, the guy that jumped over the seats, anorexic one)
you re-meet people without realizing and figure it out three introductions later
when someone looks familiar you don't know whether you met them, were in one of your workshops, asked you for a cig between class, or you facebook stalked off of someones profile, so you learn to keep your mouth shut.
college is a place of learning,
you learn that no one could care any less if you show up to class
you learn that when you don't show up to class, you have everything online
you learn that when you miss class they announce tests that even people who went to class forget about
you learn that no matter how much you go to class, study, read, or anything that involves the material assigned, the test will still be impossibly difficult, half the material you never covered before, and you always have two questions when there are 5 mins left
you learnt that the reading they assign is merely suggested reading and material which was suggested as extra "knowledge" will be on the exam
you learn that you will almost fail your classes, especially the really easy ones.
you learn that your group will always have an obsessive bossy team member a peace maker, and the rest will not give a rats ass
you learn that although someone signed in for your workshop, the one workshop you miss will be the one workshop where you will need to present something
you learn that no matter how many times you see your professors, they will never remember your name.
In college you learn to be independent
you will be independent because no one knows what the hell is going on, and most of the time you will be the only one that actually cares
there will be times where you are so drunk you can barely stand up, yet you are responsible for your friends who are passed out around you
you will be kicked out of clubs for smoking, causing a scene, or a friend puking, but you will learn to talk your way back in
you will forget what a proper restaurant looks like and every time a family member comes into town, you make an extra effort to show them the city (of course top restaurants, they pay)
before you refused to join anyone's table at a club which you barely know, but in college you will learn to lose all your pride and dignity and the moment you see someone you just recognize your all over them
in college you will make friends with people you could not stand before
in college you will have friends for every occasion
ie) drinking buddies (football team), clubbing buddies (friends you only see in clubs on their tables), house buddies (people always at your house for no reason), lunch buddies (people you meet up with in college only because your friends are still in their lectures), dinner buddies (people you meet occasionally for dinner, hang out a bit, never actually go out with), study buddy (people you see while working together on a project then they are never heard of again, or a bright kid whom you insist go out with you a couple of days before that online exam)
in college you expirence new things
you sleep on the floor because you think the bed is moving away from you (still drunk)
you manage to sit through the entire drinking games of the sports teams but at the end of the boat race you think your the mother fucking shit
you take your pants and bra off to be left in briefs and a shirt, but since you've been drinking you think your the hottest thing around, you wish you had waxed so you can take your shirt off
you hand in your scarf, coat, and pants to the cloak hangers in the SU
you find your bra on a mysterious boys head after which you must prove it is yours to get it back
you wake up after a night out and wonder why the hell you have a tag around your wrist and who the hell are these people that signed your shirt
you wake up after a night out to find a sticker on your head that says cool, a cig behind your ear, no pants, no keys, and no fucking clue how you actually made it home
you wake up and find a gazillion people in your living room who giggle the moment you walk in. You proceed by asking what is funny after which they laugh, you realize later in the day, after your friend tells you, that you were pole dancing the night before
waking up before 10 am means you havent gone to bed yet, waking up at 1 is early, and making it to all your classes that day is a miracle
the waiters at the cafe below your apartment stopped asking for id everytime you order a drink because you've become such good friends with them you go drinking together
smokin is a matter of rolling it not buying it
the tobacco lady at tesco smiles at you everytime you walk in
in conclusion,
Poor Mr A
Its 2:30 am and I'm exhausted but unfortunately I like to think, and thinking about next year stresses me out! haha funny to think this started out as an e-mail to a friend. I promised I'd write her long e-mails about the boring details of my day... but somehow I remembered my "political" blog..... well it was a phase, I guess the phase I'm in right now is, well, college.
Back to topic, oh yes, I was thinking, mostly about next year. You know, ever since I was in ninth grade I was looking forward to graduating, going to college, graduating from that, working, proving myself. I graduated from school, but I can't make my mind up about college. I wanna stay at royal holloway and change my degree to management with accounting and finance, I wanna go to LSE and do management and finance, I want to go to AUC and do pure finance and accounting. Well at least I'm consistent in the major! Oh I forgot, I want to study law.... Contracting, and marine time law.... But I don't want to be a lawyer.... Journalist! Or given how much I love house and grey's I'm thinking of medicine! Imagine a lawyer/doctor/accountant/philanthropist/CEO/journalist..... Damn I'd be the most active person alive!!!! I'd also wear out before i finish studying everything.
My whole life I knew what I wanted, how to get it. In the words from 21, I dazzled! I dazzled everyone. I was the person people knew would make it. Make it big, prove everyone's stereotype wrong. I would make it. But how can I fucking make it when I can barley make up my mind on the college I want to be in, let alone the degree, or even the continent I want to be on! How can I make it when I don't want to be either there or here. I want the london life, but with my friends from back home. I want my parents to live in the city right by me, so I have them when I want, and still keep my freedom. I want to eventually be an expert in finance and accounting, that I would lead any business exploding towards the sky. I want to have a background in law. so the doctor thing was just a thought, and so was the journalism. Actually, the philanthropist wasn't a lie, I was gonna study that in SOAS, only they called it developmental studies. Haha, i'm telling you, i'm all over the place. And on top of that i'm venturing off topic so much, I actually forgot what I was worried about to begin with. Oh yes, of course, LS fucking E!
So my high school econ teacher writes my recommendation for my UCAS application, so its not the best recommendation ever, but its not bad either. I put my heart into writing an outstanding personal statement. Then LSE asks for a recommendation from one of my college tutors. Of course, I don't know any of their names so I highly doubt any of them even know mine. On top of that, I only had one tutor the first term and every class was a group presentation, which meant, I never had the chance to show off my uncanny annoying I have a comment about everything skill that makes teachers honestly believe I have an academic side to me. So without my backup 'pretend' brightness, without previous experience to how resourceful I am, and with no history of just what I am capable of, my MN100 teacher wrote me a recommendation.
I know im not being modest when I say, I think the two weeks of pestering him and the constant demands I made of my tutor paid off as he wrote me a short but delightful recommendation. I know in my heart what he said about me was spot on, but I must wonder if he knows it too. I did brainwash him with my recommendations from my high school days, my narcissist personal statement, self-absorbed cv, and ranting about my bloody confidence. So what, I am confident, just because he doesn't know me well doesn't mean I'll let that drag my application down, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do! right?? but i must admit, chapeau to the excellent tutor, who gave me what I needed, if LSE accepts me, then i owe him one. If not, I still owe him for trying. The poor man must have slain to try and find something nice to say about me, after all, all I do is give him heat.
I think this may be the first post where I reveal parts of my personal life, anyone who knows me well and reads this will instantly know it is me. Let's hope it stays hidden like the rest of my blog from the rapidity of the internet. While I did want my other articles to be read, this privacy may just as well work for me.
Back to topic, oh yes, I was thinking, mostly about next year. You know, ever since I was in ninth grade I was looking forward to graduating, going to college, graduating from that, working, proving myself. I graduated from school, but I can't make my mind up about college. I wanna stay at royal holloway and change my degree to management with accounting and finance, I wanna go to LSE and do management and finance, I want to go to AUC and do pure finance and accounting. Well at least I'm consistent in the major! Oh I forgot, I want to study law.... Contracting, and marine time law.... But I don't want to be a lawyer.... Journalist! Or given how much I love house and grey's I'm thinking of medicine! Imagine a lawyer/doctor/accountant/philanthropist/CEO/journalist..... Damn I'd be the most active person alive!!!! I'd also wear out before i finish studying everything.
My whole life I knew what I wanted, how to get it. In the words from 21, I dazzled! I dazzled everyone. I was the person people knew would make it. Make it big, prove everyone's stereotype wrong. I would make it. But how can I fucking make it when I can barley make up my mind on the college I want to be in, let alone the degree, or even the continent I want to be on! How can I make it when I don't want to be either there or here. I want the london life, but with my friends from back home. I want my parents to live in the city right by me, so I have them when I want, and still keep my freedom. I want to eventually be an expert in finance and accounting, that I would lead any business exploding towards the sky. I want to have a background in law. so the doctor thing was just a thought, and so was the journalism. Actually, the philanthropist wasn't a lie, I was gonna study that in SOAS, only they called it developmental studies. Haha, i'm telling you, i'm all over the place. And on top of that i'm venturing off topic so much, I actually forgot what I was worried about to begin with. Oh yes, of course, LS fucking E!
So my high school econ teacher writes my recommendation for my UCAS application, so its not the best recommendation ever, but its not bad either. I put my heart into writing an outstanding personal statement. Then LSE asks for a recommendation from one of my college tutors. Of course, I don't know any of their names so I highly doubt any of them even know mine. On top of that, I only had one tutor the first term and every class was a group presentation, which meant, I never had the chance to show off my uncanny annoying I have a comment about everything skill that makes teachers honestly believe I have an academic side to me. So without my backup 'pretend' brightness, without previous experience to how resourceful I am, and with no history of just what I am capable of, my MN100 teacher wrote me a recommendation.
I know im not being modest when I say, I think the two weeks of pestering him and the constant demands I made of my tutor paid off as he wrote me a short but delightful recommendation. I know in my heart what he said about me was spot on, but I must wonder if he knows it too. I did brainwash him with my recommendations from my high school days, my narcissist personal statement, self-absorbed cv, and ranting about my bloody confidence. So what, I am confident, just because he doesn't know me well doesn't mean I'll let that drag my application down, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do! right?? but i must admit, chapeau to the excellent tutor, who gave me what I needed, if LSE accepts me, then i owe him one. If not, I still owe him for trying. The poor man must have slain to try and find something nice to say about me, after all, all I do is give him heat.
I think this may be the first post where I reveal parts of my personal life, anyone who knows me well and reads this will instantly know it is me. Let's hope it stays hidden like the rest of my blog from the rapidity of the internet. While I did want my other articles to be read, this privacy may just as well work for me.
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