NEW TOWN, NEW CAPITAL, NEW WORKPLACE - THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS OF JAPANESE INWARD INVESTORS IN A WEST MIDLANDS NEW TOWN

In this paper we examine the character of employment and industrial re lations within new manufacturing industry in a new-town setting. We sh ow how a combination of national and local state initiatives generated a new pattern of manufacturing, dominated by foreign-owned companies. Drawing from extensive fieldwork in Japanese firms, we demonstrate, c ontra the 'Japanization' thesis, that greenfield sites do not provide employers with unconstrained opportunities to control labour. Rather, we highlight how capital-labour relations developed through interactio n between large firms, state agencies and workers, producing an evolvi ng and contested new employment settlement. Our analysis also underlin es the limits confronting local state development strategies under a n eo-liberal state regime.