Adjustment in declining markets; international comparisons of the steel industry

Completed

Not Energy Related
Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor TAJ Cockerill
Judge Business School
University of Cambridge

Standard

ESRC

01 July 1988

30 June 1991

36 months

£23,460

No relevance to Underpinning Sectors

East of England

ESRC Oil

Professor TAJ Cockerill, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Objectives not supplied

In this project, the economies of the process of adaption to reduced demand in industrial markets is being studied in relation to the experience since 1973 of the steel industries in the European Communities, the United States and Japan. The steel industry is a suitable sector for comparative analysis because its produce and processes of manufacture are similar among producing regions and output is widely traded internationally. After the first oil shock in 1973, demand for steel began to fallin the industrial countries. The patterns and speed of adjustment of supply to these trends varied among the three major regions. Economic theory suggests that important factors affecting the adjustment process are: uncertainty about future demand; the presence of costs associated with leaving markets; the size structure of enterprises in the industry; the degree of competition or cooperation between them; and the nature of public policy towards the industry. The research will study the importance of these, and other, factors by statistical analysis of industrial data, reviews of published information and series of interviews with a representative selection of enterprises in each region.

26/10/11