The Management of Technical Change
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The Management of Technical Change Automation in the UK and USA since 1950 Alan Booth
Alan Booth 2006 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-9174-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2006 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-54320-5 ISBN 978-0-230-80060-1 DOI 10.1057/9780230800601 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, Albert Edward Booth (1920 1993), for the encouragement and support that he unfailingly gave to both his sons.
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Contents List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgements viii x xi 1 The Political Economy of Technical Change 1 2 World Roles and International Technology Transfer 24 3 National Politics of Productivity and Technical Change 48 4 Automation in Engineering 71 5 The Continuous Flow Industries: Feedback Control and Computerisation 95 6 Office Automation: Computers, Clerical Work and Management Systems 117 7 Bank Automation 141 8 Japanisation 165 Conclusion 190 Notes 198 References 228 Index 264 vii
List of Tables 1.1 Matrix for studying the political economy of technical change 22 2.1 Time series extrapolations of comparative US/UK labour productivity levels by sector, 1937 90 31 2.2 Comparative US/UK labour productivity in manufacturing, 1950 75 32 2.3 Manufacturing footprints, UK and USA, 1954 and 1967/68 44 4.1 US/UK comparative labour productivity in engineering, 1929/30 to 1967/68 72 4.2 Austin, Morris and BMC output surges, 1947 67 83 4.3 National stocks and diffusion levels of N/C machine tools, 1966 70 88 4.4 Distribution of N/C machine tools among industries in five market economies (1969) 90 5.1 Comparative labour productivity in selected large batch and continuous flow industries, 1947 67/68 100 5.2 Imports of oil into the UK, 1934 56 102 6.1 Average annual clerical salaries by gender and as a percentage of national average salaries, 1922 78 123 6.2 Differentials between annual average clerical and semi skilled manual earnings by gender, GB, 1922 78 123 6.3 Computer orders and deliveries for commercial work in the UK to June 1959 127 6.4 Uses for computers ordered or installed by June 1959, UK 128 7.1 Growth of accounts and cheque use in British retail banks, 1946 66 143 7.2 Lloyds Bank staffing position, 1945 69 144 7.3 Anticipated cost structures of different methods of cheque clearing, 1964 149 7.4 The performance of British banking, insurance and financial services, 1950 73 160 7.5 Estimates of comparative US/UK labour productivity in banking, insurance and finance, 1950 73 161 8.1 GDP per worker-hour, 1950 89 172 8.2 Value added per hour worked in major branches of manufacturing, 1973 89 173 viii
List of Tables ix 8.3 Assembly hours per standard vehicle for volume car producers, 1989 182 8.4 Company value added per employee 183 8.5 Company cashflow per vehicle produced 184
List of Figures 6.1 Number of clerical workers in Great Britain by gender, 1911 71 121 7.1 Employees of the Midland Bank by gender, 1939 67 148 x
Acknowledgements This book has been a very long time in the making. Over such a long period, many intellectual debts are accumulated and I would particularly like to thank Jo Melling, Jim Tomlinson, Nick Tiratsoo for their helpful comments on my work over the years and to Mike Anson, Mark Bufton and Andrew Jenkins for stimulating conversations when the germ of this project was hatched. None of them should be blamed for what follows; my obstinacy is legendary. More generally Jeremy Black has been a rock of support and encouragement. Above all, I should like to thank Louise Hill Curth for her enthusiasm for and assistance with all things academic. I have also accumulated debts to many archivists, from whom I would like to single out Edwin Green and Sara Kinsey at HSBC Group Archives, London, Beth Kaplan and Carrie Seib at the Charles Babbage Institute and Susan Hengel, Lynn Catanese and Marge McNinch at the Hagley Museum and Library. At various times, this work has been supported by the Hagley Institute (with many thanks to Philip Scranton, Roger Horowitz and Carol Lockman), the British Academy (research grant LRG 37246), the (then) Arts and Humanities Research Board (research leave grant number RL/PID11476/ AID18709) and the University of Exeter for a period of study leave. I am especially grateful to all four institutions for their generous and flexible support. For permission to use and quote archival material, I am grateful to the following: Graham Goulden (Fujitsu Services for the Fujitsu, formerly ICL, Archive), Edwin Green (HSBC Group Archives, London), Helen Langton (British Bankers Association Archive) and Philip Winterbottom (Royal Bank of Scotland Group Archives, London), Professor Stephen Broadberry, Cambridge University Press, The National Institute of Economic and Social Research and Professor Karel Williams. Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders of material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, I apologise and will attend to the matter at the first opportunity. xi