Service Activities and Uneven Spatial Development in Britain and its European Partners: Determinist Fallacies and New Options

Abstract

The growing prominence of service activities in the European economies is part of a major structural change. In this paper, in contrast to the implicit determinism found in much research, the new locational possibilities being created by a reorganisation of service production within both private business and the public sector are emphasised. The present phase of reorganisation offers a ‘window of opportunity’ for policy influence before new patterns become established as a further round of uneven development.

Local Economic Development and the City

“…If, as seems likely, managerial control functions are still especially closely tied to finance and business services, then the fast rate of growth of these services in London and the South-eastthree to four times greater than in other areas (Frost and Spence, 1991)-would appear to corroborate this argument. However, Marshall and Jaeger (1990) report research which indicates that elsewhere in Europe organisational structures are not heavily concentrated in the capital city and that there is autonomous expansion of the regional service sector . However, they warn of the difficulties of discerning relationships between corporate and spatial structure in a period when industry is making increasingly subtle use of space .…”

“…O'hUallachain (1991) concludes that improvements in electronic information networks may cause both spatial centralisation and decentralisation, depending on the activity . More generally, Marshall and Jaeger (1990) argue that services are a significant driving force in the contemporary reorganisation of European economies, creating growth or decline in other sectors, but there is no single trajectory from a manufacturing-based to a service-based economy .…”

Economic Transition, Urban Hierarchy, and Service Industry Growth in China

“…Fuchs () put forward three principal causes of growth in services: the growth of final demand by private consumers, the growth of intermediate demand for services purchased by productive sectors, and low productivity per capita in service industry. Subsequent research has provided a set of detailed explanations of intermediate demand, including changes in the organisation of industrial enterprises (Goe ), urbanisation and life style changes (Riddle ), the development of trade (Lee ; Coffey & McRae ), and the connection between the manufacturing and service industries (Marshall & Jaeger ). Since the 1990s, the producer service industry has also attracted increasing attention.…”

Empirical Research on Producer Service Growth and Regional Development: International Comparisons

“…Even in the United Kngdom, however, the late 1980s brought relatively rapid growth of smaller producer service companies and establishments outside the South East (Daniels 1995). While the largest share of producer service-sector sales are to other service establishments rather than to manufacturers, the presence of a strong manufacturing sector and corporate headquarters outside of the core cities of Italy, Germany, and France has helped maintain a moderately decentralized producer service sector in those countries (Marshall and Jaeger 1990).…”