The growth of business services in the United Kingdom during the 1980s is reviewed, and especially the role of small firms. Reports the results of an intensive questionnaire survey, undertaken in 1991, of a sample of small management consultancy and market research companies in three areas; inner London, the outer south east, and north west England. In interpreting the demand and supply characteristics of these firms, emphasis is placed on their interactions with the internal labour market strategies of predominantly large client organisations. Generally, the sample firms offer consultancy and marketing expertise which such clients do not provide from their own skill resources. Their founders were also often originally employees of such organisations, especially outside London. Regional economic and social characteristics mould the activities of these firms, even though many engage in a significant degree of interregional trade. The markets served, types of specialisation, the originating process, and the ages of founders show marked differences between the two sectors and the three areas.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbbottP C, 1992, “Public sector work grows for firms”Management Consultancy May, 33–37
2.
AksoyAMarshallN, 1992, “The changing corporate head office and its spatial implications”Regional Studies26149–162
3.
AydalotP, 1988, “The role of small—medium sized enterprises in regional development: Conclusions drawn from recent surveys”, in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Regional Development Eds GiaoutziMNijkampPStoreyD (Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Andover, Hants) pp 163–180
4.
BatstoneS J, 1989, “New business service firms: An exploratory study”, mimeo, Department of Economics, Leicester Polytechnic, Leicester
5.
BeyersW BAlvineM JJohnsenE G, 1985The Service Economy: Export of Services in the Central Puget Sound RegionCentral Puget Sound Economic Development District; copy available from Department of Geography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
6.
BrysonJWoodP AKeebleD, 1992, “Business networks, small firm flexibility and regional development in UK business services”, WP19, Small Business Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
7.
ChildJ, 1988, “Managerial strategies, new technology and the labour process”, in On Work Ed. PahlR (Basil Blackwell, Oxford) pp 229–257
8.
ChristophersonS, 1989, “Flexibility in the US service economy and the emerging spatial division of labour”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series14131–143
9.
CoaseR, 1937, “The nature of the firm”Economica4386–405
10.
DahlmanC, 1979, “The problem of externality”The Journal of Law and Economics22141–162
11.
DamesickP J, 1986, “Service industries, employment and regional development in Britain: A review of recent trends and issues”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series11212–226
12.
DanielsP W, 1986, “Producer services in the UK space economy”, in The Geography of Deindustrialization Eds MartinRRowthornB (Macmillan, London) pp 291–321
FischerM M, 1988, “Business formation and regional development: Some major issues”, in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Regional Development Eds GiaoutziMNijkampPStoreyD J (Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Andover, Hants) pp 85–103
15.
GillespieAGreenA, 1987, “The changing geography of producer service employment in Britain”Regional Studies21397–412
16.
GoeW R, 1990, “Producer services, trade and the social division of labour”Regional Studies24327–342
17.
GreenAHowellsJ, 1988, “Information services and spatial development in the UK economy”Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geographie79266–275
18.
HepworthM EGreenA EGillespieA E, 1987, “The spatial division of information labour in Great Britain”Environment and Planning A19793–806
19.
HowellsJ, 1987, “Developments in the location, technology and industrial organization of computer services: Some trends and research issues”Regional Studies21493–503
20.
HowellsJGreenA, 1989Technological Innovation, Structural Change and Location in UK Services (Avebury, Aldershot, Hants)
21.
KeebleD, 1990a, “New firms and regional economic development: Experience and impacts in the 1980s”Cambridge Regional Economic ReviewPA Cambridge Consultants and Department of Applied Economics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, pp 62–71
22.
KeebleD, 1990b, “Small firms, new firms and uneven regional development”Area22234–245
23.
KeebleDBrysonJWoodP, 1991, “Small firms, business service growth and regional developments in the United Kingdom: Some empirical findings”Regional Studies25439–457
24.
KeebleDBrysonJWoodP, 1992, “Entrepreneurship and flexibility in business services: The rise of small management consultancy and market research firms in the United Kingdom”, in Small Enterprise Development: Policy and Practice in Action Eds CaleyKChittendenFChellEMasonC (Paul Chapman, London) pp 43–58
25.
Management Consultancy1990, “UK management consultancy industry shows good growth”Management Consultancy May, pp 22–26
26.
MarshallJ N, 1982, “Linkages between manufacturing industry and business services”Environment and Planning A141523–1540
27.
MarshallJ N, 1985, “Research policy and review 4. Services in a postindustrial economy”Environment and Planning A171155–1168
28.
MarshallJ N, 1988Services and Uneven Development (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
29.
MarshallJ NDamesickP JWoodP A, 1987, “Understanding the location and role of producer services in the United Kingdom”Environment and Planning A19575–595
30.
MasonCHarrisonR T, 1985, “The geography of small firms in the UK: Towards a research agenda”Progress in Human Geography91–37
31.
MorrisJ L, 1988, “New technologies, flexible work practices, and regional sociospatial differentiation: Some observations from the United Kingdom”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space6301–319
32.
MoulaertFMartinelliFDjellalF, 1991, “The functional and spatial division of labour in information technology consulting firms in Western Europe”, in The Changing Geography of Advanced Producer Services Eds DanielsP WMoulaertF (Belhaven Press, London) pp 118–134
33.
O'FarrellP NHitchensD M W N, 1990a, “Research policy and review 32. Producer services and regional development: A review of some major conceptual policy and research issues”Environment and Planning A221141–1154
34.
O'FarrellP NHitchensD M W N, 1990b, “Producer services and regional development: Key conceptual issues of taxonomy and quality measurement”Regional Studies24163–172
35.
O'FarrellP NHitchensD M W N, 1991, “An interaction model of the production and consumption of a business service”British Journal of Management2205–221
36.
O'FarrellP NMoffatL A R, 1992, “Manufacturing demand for business services in a core and peripheral region: A process of vertical disintegration”, paper presented to RESER Conference, Portsmouth, September; copy available from Department of Economics, Herriot-Watt Business School, PO Box 807, Edinburgh
37.
O'FarrellP NHitchensD M W NMoffatL A R, 1992, “The competitiveness of business service firms: A matched comparison between Scotland and the South East of England”Regional Studies26519–534.
38.
SayerA, 1992, “Radical geography and Marxist political economy: Towards a re-evaluation”Progress in Human Geography6343–360
39.
ScottA J, 1986, “Industrial organization and location: Division of labor, the firm and spatial process”Economic Geography62215–231
40.
ScottA J, 1988Metropolis: From the Division of Labor to Urban Form (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA)
41.
SmithI J, 1979, “The effects of external takeovers on manufacturing employment changes in the North region between 1963 and 1973”Regional Studies13421–438
42.
StorperMChristophersonS, 1987, “Flexible specialisation and regional industrial agglomeration: The case of the US motion picture industry”Annals of the Association of American Geographers77104–117
43.
WilliamsonO E, 1971, “The vertical integration of production: Market failure considerations”American Economic Review61112–123
44.
WoodP A, 1991, “Flexible accumulation and the rise of business services”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series16160–172
