The Internationalization of Production,Intra-Core Relations and the State: A Case Study of IBM and the British Computer Industry

Theories of dependency and development contain several deficiencies which limit their effectiveness for the study of core/core relations. Similarly, frameworks allowing for a study of intra-core relations have not adequately specified the relationship between international and national factors, or their combined effects, in generating inequities between core countries. This case study offers some preliminary observations about the relationship between internationalization of production and national economic planning efforts. The study highlights several points concerning the matrix of international and national political-economic factors, and focuses on particular patterns resulting from the configuration of these factors in the case of the British computer industry and International Business Machines (IBM).