Kudos to May for her neo-industrial strategy for the UK
It's time for Britain to recover its manufacturing prowess after ceding supremacy to Japan. By Anthony Rowley
AS SOMEONE who has lived for 25 years in Japan where monozukuri (manufacturing) has been a tradition and almost a religion since the Meiji Restoration of 1868, I was happy to learn on a recent visit to my home country, England, that our new prime minister, Theresa May, has opted to emulate Japan in this regard.
One could argue rather that Japan copied Britain since England was the "cradle" of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. But the country's former world- renowned manufacturing skills were not so much "lost" as thrown away in the decades following World War II.
Britain's great machinery-making, shipbuilding, motor vehicle manufacturing and other industrial skills were yielded in those years to Japan (and, increasingly, nowadays to China and others) in the naive and irresponsible belief that the future lay in service industries.
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Columns
‘Competition for talent’ a poor excuse to keep key executives’ pay under wraps
OCBC should put its properties into a Reit and distribute the trust’s units to shareholders
Why a stronger US dollar is dangerous
An overstimulated US economy is asking for trouble
Too many property agents? Cap commissions on home sales
Time to study broadening of private market access