The Impact of Toyota on Derbyshire's Local Economy and Labour Market

Abstract

Many localities are aware of the need to attract inward investment. Thir article examines the impact of Toyota's 2700 million investment in Derbyshire. It investigates its direct and indirect employment effects. The article attempts to go beyond the predominantly quantitative approach adopted in previous studies by examining the characteristics of the newjobs at Toyota, and those who secure them. In addition, the nature of supplier likages and multiplier effects is investigated to analyse secondary effects. Whilst approximately 3,000 jobs will be directly created by Toyota, there may be some disruptive effects in the local labour market. Furthermore, the potential for employment through supplier linkages and multiplier effects has not yet been maximised, although it is possible that these may materialise in the longer term. Discussion of these factors clearly highlights the fact that the attraction of inward investment is only the first stage in the process of significant job creation.

Industrialization and Local/Regional Development Revisited

“…It is interesting to note, however, that foreign MNCs have established R&D facilities in Western Europe, 10 in view of their proximity to markets with dierent tastes and with dierent factor cost conditions than in their home countries. In other words, both process and product innovations are researched near to their European daughters (Foley et al, 1996). Similarly, for instance in Malaysia, a long-established US ®rm in the ®eld of telecommunications set up an R&D facility with about 60 employees (Sivalingam and Yong, 1993), while a Dutch ®rm in the ®eld of electronics recently enlarged to about 80 employees what it called its knowledge centre' in Singapore, in view of its proximity to the Chinese market.…”

Qualitative meta-analysis of the socioeconomic impacts of offshore wind farms

“…To better understand the employment impact of investments and large projects in general, car manufacturing plants and their impact on the local economy were studied. There is significant data in this area to prove the impact such projects have had in the local economy in the long run (Foley et al, 1996). However, applying this to the wind farm sector is difficult, to the extent that each sector presents different trade-offs for recipient localities.…”

Regional Development Implications of Foreign Direct Investment in Central Europe

“…It has been argued that FDI may suppress or even destroy the existing local firms that are unable to compete with FIEs supported by governmental investment incentives. It may also suppress the development of new indigenous enterprises (Foley et al, 1996;Dicken, 1998;Hardy, 1998). At the national scale, the growth in real income resulting from imports of capital, technology and skills is one of the most important potential positive direct economic effects of FDI (Mišun and Tomšík, 2002: 57).…”

“…It has been argued that FDI may suppress or even destroy the existing local firms that are unable to compete with FIEs supported by governmental investment incentives. It may also suppress the development of new indigenous enterprises (Foley et al, 1996;Dicken, 1998;Hardy, 1998).…”