The resilience of the British and European goods industry: Challenge of Brexit

Moshfique Uddin, Anup Chowdhury, Geoffrey Wood

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

This is a study of the volume flexibility of the British and European goods industry, and its relative ability to cope with exogenous shocks, using the case of the Brexit process in a comparative context. It is located within the literature on comparative capitalism, and what it tells us in terms of how different institutional orders may be equipped to deal with such events. Using data for goods firms across 27 EU countries and the UK, we find that the UK goods industry has coped poorly with the shocks related to the Brexit process: its volume flexibility has declined. Brexit also has had an, albeit lesser, impact on the volume flexibility of their European firms counterparts. In particular, smaller firms in the EU coped better, a possible reflection of stronger institutional supports. However, firms that investing more in R&D, provide training to improve management efficiency, and apply innovation to improve asset efficiency, seem to be coping better. This study illustrates how the withdrawal of Britain from supra-national European institutions seems to have accentuated any negative effects of domestic institutions on firms, and, indeed, has had even worse consequences than the 2008 economic crisis for the British goods industry. The latter would suggest it is ill equipped to cope with further shocks, such as the 2020 pandemic. We draw out the implications for theorizing, policy and future research.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)934-954
Number of pages21
JournalIndustrial and Corporate Change
Volume31
Issue number4
Early online date2 Apr 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press in association with Oxford University Press and the Industrial and Corporate Change Association.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics

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