Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:31:26.311Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Single European Market, Multinationals and Concentration: The Case of Food Manufacturing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Anna Pollert
Affiliation:
Industrial Relations, University of Warwick

Abstract

This paper examines the logic and implications of the Single European Market for the food manufacturing sector. It points to the role of multinationals in this sector and the process of concentration through merger and acquisition as a central growth strategy. It suggests that rather than encourage further concentration, European policy should concern itself with the benefits as well as the problems of regional differentiation and the complementarity rather than the conflict of different scales of production and distribution.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Auerbach, P. (1989) ‘Multinationals and the British Economy’. In Gren, F. (ed.), The Restructuring of the British Economy. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Baden-Fuller, C. W. F. and Stopford, M. M. (1991) ‘Globalisation Frustrated: the Case of White Goods’. Bath and London: Mimeo. Strategic Management Journal, 12, 493507.Google Scholar
Buigues, P., Ilzkovitz, F. and Lebrun, J. F. (1990) ‘Social Europe: The Impact of the Internal Market by Industrial Sector: the Challenge for the Member States’. European Economy: Special Edition 1990: Commission of the European Communities, DG for Economic and Financial Affairs; DG for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs.Google Scholar
Business Monitor PA1002 (1989) Report on the Census of Production Summary Volume.Google Scholar
Cecchini, P. (1988) 1992 the European Challenge: The Benefits of a Single Market. Aldershot: Wildwood House.Google Scholar
Cowling, K. (1982) Monopoly Capitalism London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutler, T., Halsam, C., Williams, J. and Williams, K. (1989) 1992 – The Struggle for Europe: A Critical Evaluation of the European Community. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Dunning, J. (1993) Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy. New York: Addison and Wesley.Google Scholar
Economist (1991) ‘Nestlé–Rowntree – A Good Deal’, 15.6.1991.Google Scholar
Elson, D. and Pearson, R. (1989) Women's Employment and Multinationals in Europe. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Euromonitor (1993a) European Marketing Data and Statistics 1993, 28th Edition. London: Euromonitor plc.Google Scholar
Euromonitor (1993b) Consumer Europe 1993. London: Euromonitor plc.Google Scholar
European Commission (1988) Recent Trends of Concentration in Selected Industries of the European Community, Japan, and the United States. Luxembourg: Office for the Official Publications of the European Communities.Google Scholar
European Commission (1989) ‘Perspectives for the European Food Industry’. European Commission.Google Scholar
European Commission (1993) Panorama of EC Industry 1993. Commission of the European Communities, DG III, Luxembourg: Office for the Official Publications of the European Communities.Google Scholar
European Market Share Reporter (1993) Library and Information Services. London: Gale Research International Ltd.Google Scholar
Foster, G. (1988) ‘Core Concerns at Unilever’. Management Today, May 1988, pp. 62–7. London.Google Scholar
Geroski, P. A (1989) ‘European Industrial Policy and Industrial Policy in Europe’. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 5, No. 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goold, M. and Campbell, A. (1987) Strategies and Styles. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gourlay, R. (1991) The Food Industry. Financial Times Survey, May 10, 191.Google Scholar
Grant, W. (1993) Agribusiness Report for the European Commission FAST Programme: the Future of Industry in Europe.Google Scholar
Grover, J. (1989) ‘The changing structure of the European food industry’. Acquisitions Monthly, 10 1989.Google Scholar
Harris, C. (1990) The Food Industry. Financial Times Survey, March 5, 1990.Google Scholar
Henderson, D., Swinbank, A. and Sheldon, I (1992) ‘Cooperative Research on Global Implications of a Single European Market for the Food Manufacturing Industries’, paper prepared for the International Agribusiness Management Association Symposium, ‘Evolution of the Food Chain in a Changing International Environment’,Oxford,May, 1992.Google Scholar
Henderson, Crosthwaite (1990) Consumer Brief Spotlight: Unilever, 26 March 1990, Vol. 13, No. 8. London.Google Scholar
IGD (1990) Food Manufacturing ‘90: a Strategic Analysis of the Environment within which Food Manufacturers Operate. IGD, November 1990. Letchmore Heath, Watford.Google Scholar
ILO (1989) Social and labour practices of multinational enterprises in the food and drink industry. Geneva: International Labour Office.Google Scholar
ILO (1991) Food and Drinks Industries Committes Second Session Geneva, General Report, Report I. Geneva: International Labour Office.Google Scholar
Key Note (1992) Keynote Market Review: Industry Trends and Forecasts, UK Food Market. London: Key Note Publications Ltd.Google Scholar
Leatherhead Food Research Association (1990) Special Report: The U.K. Food Industry – Acquisitions and Mergers in 1989, prepared by Hines, L. S., Information Group Services, Leatherhead Food R.A., Leatherhead.Google Scholar
MAC (1988) Report on the ‘Cost of Non-Europe’, Vol. 12, Part A, The ‘Cost of Non Europe in the Food Industry, Basic Findings. Group MAC, Luxembourg: Commission of the European Communities.Google Scholar
Majlers, F. A. (1990) ‘Strategic Planning and Intuition in Unilever’, Long Range Planning, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 63–8. London: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Marketing (1989) ‘Unilever hungers for more food’, Marketing (UK), 04 26, 1990. London.Google Scholar
Marketing UK 1990 ‘1992 Survey: Whetting the EC Appetite’, Marketing (UK) April 26 1990, London.Google Scholar
Marketpower (1988) European Food Strategies to 1955, Vol. 7 European Overview. London: Marketpower Ltd.Google Scholar
McGee, J. and Segal-Horn, S. (1992) ‘Will there be a European Food Processing Industry?’ In Young, S. and Hamill, J. (eds.), Europe and the Multinationals: Issues and Responses for the 1990s. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
MMC (1981) Discounts to Retailers. Monopolies and Mergers Commission, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. (1988) ‘The Food Industry’. Financial Times Survey, February 1.Google Scholar
Parkes, C. (1989) ‘The Food Industry’. Financial Times Survey, April.Google Scholar
Pollert, A. (ed.) (1991) Farewell to Flexibility? Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ramsay, H. (1990) ‘1992 – The year of the Multinational? Corporate Behaviour, Industrial Restructuring and Labour in the Single Market’, Warwick Paper in Industrial Relations No. 35. Coventry: University of Warwick.Google Scholar
Scouller, J. (1987) ‘The United Kingdom Merger Boom in Perspective’. National Westminster Bank Quarterly Review, May 1987.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (1991) ‘From 1960s Automation to Flexible Specialisation: a déja vu of Technological Panaceas’. In Pollert, A. (ed.), 1991, Farewell to Flexibility? Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Smith, C., Child, J. and Rowlinson, M. (1990) Re-shaping Work: The Cadbury Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stopford, J. and Turner, L. (1985) Britain and the Multinationals. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Tailby, S. and Whitston, C. (eds.) (1989) Manufacturing Change: Industrial Relations and Restructuring. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
UNIDO (1977) Draft world-study study on the agro-industries: 1976–2000. Vienna.Google Scholar
United Nations (1981) Transnational Corporations in Food and Beverage Processing, New York: United Nations Center on Transnational Corporations.Google Scholar