Industrial Efficiency and State Intervention

Nick Tiratsoo and Jim Tomlinson describe and assess the Labour Party's development of a policy of improving industrial efficiency. They concentrate on the debates and initiatives of the wartime period and subsequent implementation of policy under Attlee. The book modifies existing historiography in two ways - it shows that the Labour Party of 1945-51 was concerned mainly with industrial modernization, not with creating the Welfare State, and it tackles the consequently necessary re-evaluation of wider theories about Britain's economic decline

Materials handling in British industry, 1945-c1975: the anatomy of a manufacturing fundamental

During the post-1945 Golden Age, all British manufacturers spent a lot of time and energy moving raw and processed materials about their plants. This article seeks to understand how handling practices evolved during these years and the range of influences that determined their character. Its argues that British industry often clung to outdated methods long after they were demonstrably redundant, and establishes that this conservatism was not a product of economic circumstances, but rather stemmed ultimately from ideas that manufacturers themselves held about the status and importance of production.

The United States Technical Assistance Programme in Japan, 1955–62

In the seven years after 1955, the American government provided Japan with a substantial amount of technical assistance. This article examines the origins of the US programme, describes its scope and assesses what it actually achieved on the ground in Japan. The conclusion offered is that, though a few American prescriptions were certainly rejected, the programme as a whole had a profound impact on Japanese practices, particularly in relation to the vital question of industrial engineering. Indeed, it would appear that an understanding of the Japanese economic miracle is incomplete unless it takes this fact fully into account.

Americanisation in 20th Century Europe: business, culture, politics. Volume 2

Ce volume apporte une contribution importante au débat sur les interactions entre l‘Amérique et l’Europe au xxe siècle. Il pose des interrogations sur le sens courant de “Américanisation” et voudrait offrir de nouveaux et fructueux points de départ pour de futures recherches et discussions. L‘approche choisie utilise la vision la plus large possible de l‘influence américaine, englobant l‘ensemble de la sphère micro-économique et abordant non seulement les entreprises, mais aussi la culture des consommateurs et des entreprises en général. Pris comme un ensemble, les différents chapitres de cet ouvrage confirment l‘importance des États-Unis comme point de référence pour les entrepreneurs et les consommateurs européens. Simultanément, ils apportent un éclairage nouveau sur la complexité du processus d’Américanisation qui fut toujours plus que le simple transfert unilateral ou “l‘exportation” dֹ’idées. Ils insistent également sur la multiplicité des effets qui vont du rejet pur et simple à l’acceptation selective traditionelle. Mais avant tout, ils renforcent l’idée selon laquelle l’Américanisation est un phénomène social, qui concerne des populations réelles dans des contextes spécifiques, que ce soit au niveau des entreprises, de l’industrie ou de la société, et dont les motivations s’étendent du simple l’idéalisme aux raisons plus venales

Industrial Efficiency and State Intervention

Nick Tiratsoo and Jim Tomlinson describe and assess the Labour Party's development of a policy of improving industrial efficiency. They concentrate on the debates and initiatives of the wartime period and subsequent implementation of policy under Attlee. The book modifies existing historiography in two ways - it shows that the Labour Party of 1945-51 was concerned mainly with industrial modernization, not with creating the Welfare State, and it tackles the consequently necessary re-evaluation of wider theories about Britain's economic decline

Shaping the content of business education in Great Britain, 1945-90: production engineers, accountants and shifting definitions of "Relevance"

This book fills an important gap in the literature on business education by exploring the content of European business education. Based on thorough studies of several European business schools it shows that the formation of the content is a complex issue that only can be understood if one goes beyond simple investigations of the curricula. <br/