Abstract

The publication of the UK government’s green paper on industrial strategy has reignited the debate about the basis on which industrial policy support should be allocated across sectors, technologies and/ or missions. It has also led to a rehearsal of old arguments about the impossibility of “picking winners” and selective support policies. In this talk I will first argue that within any industrial strategy for the UK there must be a recognition of the particular role played by manufacturing in the overall economic performance of the UK and in particular its trade performance. I then argue that support policy must involve allocation decisions in using scarce support resources. These decisions (whether sector, technology or mission specific) should I argue be based on a detailed granular understanding of that policy’s set of value chain implications. I argue that strategic support policies must be focused on developing activities which generate significant value added which accrues in the UK. This new value chain perspective should be central to any industrial or manufacturing strategy for the UK.

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