The decline in manufacturing employment in the West Midlands Region of England has been dramatic. This paper situates the changes in the economy of the region in the context of the changing international and national economies. It is argued that the shift in trading patterns from the old Empire towards Europe and North America made manufacturing sectors more vulnerable to competition both in the home market and in the overseas markets. This vulnerability has been exacerbated by the high value of sterling at certain crucial periods. National economic conditions and policies have also had detrimental effects on the regional economy, especially demand-management policies, which concentrated on consumer credit. The development of the vehicle sector has been disrupted by frequent and sudden changes in credit regulations. In addition to these problems, there is evidence that credit and labour-market conditions have both hampered development, and there is some evidence that land shortages in the conurbation have been a hindrance. National government policy towards particular sectors has been applied without major attention being paid to its regional impact. Given the high level of integration of the regional economy, shocks to one part of the economy transmit themselves rapidly to others.

The economy of the West Midlands Region of England is dominated by a small number of large manufacturing companies. The analysis of the economy in this paper focuses on the corporate strategies of the twenty-six largest manufacturing companies in the region. It is shown that there has been a transformation of the companies from producers of low value-added commodity-type products in the 1960s, is also shown to more diversified companies competing in higher value-added sectors. It also shows that these major companies have shifted their orientation from the old Empire markets towards Europe and North America. The companies have reduced their production costs by rationalising their manufacturing processes, and in some cases by establishing manufacturing plants in other countries. However, the main motive for shifting production from the United Kingdom has been to produce closer to the final markets, rather than cost reduction. The main method which companies have used to become more diversified has been acquisitions. Companies have bought all or parts of companies which were already established in the sectors into which they wanted to move. Since such companies were rarely located within the region, the regional impact of these changes has been largely negative: the plants which were engaged in the declining sectors have been in the West Midlands, whereas the growth sectors have been located elsewhere, either in other regions of the United Kingdom or abroad. The conclusion is that the West Midlands manufacturing companies have responded to the changing world economic conditions and the recent recession in a positive way, but that their reactions have produced a permanent reduction in manufacturing employment in the region. Even a strong national recovery from recession will not produce a significant increase in local employment in these companies.

This chapter sketches the development from Proto-Germanic to Proto-Northwest Germanic and discusses some subsequent changes that were widely shared among Northwest Germanic dialects. In addition to discussions of sound changes narrowly datable to Proto-Northwest Germanic and those partially shared with Gothic, and a discussion of Proto-Northwest Germanic morphological innovations, the chapter treats a number of important innovations that are widespread but not uniform in North and West Germanic, at least some of which probably spread through a diversifying dialect continuum.