Small firms, industrial districts and power asymmetries

Considers the renewed interest in industrial districts as a post‐Fordist form of spatial distribution of industry. Local agglomerations of industry in the form of small and medium‐sized firms have been proposed as a means of dealing effectively with changing patterns of demand; furthermore, they are seen as offering opportunities to workers of more satisfying employment. Contends that the positive aspects of industrial districts are often exaggerated and that the increased importance of small firms generally has, in many cases, been the outcome of regressive economic restructuring at the global level. Takes evidence from survey work in the East Midlands, and shows that small firms often occupy a weak position in the production chain and, as a consequence, are subject to asymmetrical power relationships. Makes policy recommendations which are designed to deal both with the problems faced by small firms in particular and by labour more generally.