Экономика Великобритании и диалектика её развития

p align="left">The present recession has hit the motor vehicles industry particularly hard. Car output is dominated by Rover (which is British), Ford, Vauxhall, Pegeot Talbot and Nissan. Two other Japanese manufacturers have also established themselves in Britain - Honda and Toyota. The motor components industry, consisting of over 2,000 firms, is an important employer.

Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering

The largest sector is devoted to the building and conversion of warships for the Royal Navy and overseas government. British yards also build merchant vessels, including gas carriers and offshore support and research vessels. Marine equipment - for example, ships' engines and navigation systems - is an important sector too.

More than 20 years of oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea have generated a major offshore industry manufacturing platforms, drilling rigs, jack-up rigs and offshore loading systems.

Aerospace

With about 300 companies employing around 150,000 people, Britain's aerospace industry is the third largest in the world. Over 70 per cent of production is exported. Since the ending of the “Cold War” production is focusing more on civil products; at present spending on civil and defence products is about equal.

As Britain's leading manufacturing exporter, British Aerospace (BAe) produces both civil and military aircraft, satellites, space systems, guided weapons and components. Civil aircraft include the RJ regional jetliner series (formerly the 146) and the best-selling 125 middle-sized business jet. The company has a 20 per cent share in Airbus Industrie, which manufactures a family of airlines.

BAe's military production includes the vertical/short take-off Harrier and the Hawk fast jet trainer. It is also a partner in producing the Tornado combat aircraft.

Shorts of Belfast manufactures wings for the Fokker 100 jetliner and is involved in producing the 50-seat Canadair jet airlines. Westland is a partner in developing the multi-role three-engine EH 101 helicopter.

One of the three major aero-engine manufacturers in the Western world, Rolls-Royce manufactures engines for civil aircraft as well as for military aircraft and helicopters. The latest variant of its RB211 turbofan, the Trent, is presently the world's most powerful turbofan in development. Rolls-Royce is a partner in the International Aero Engine consortium, which makes the V2500 low-pollution aero-engine, now in service on the Airbus A320.

British aviation equipment companies have made significant technological advances. They supply navigation and landing systems, engine and flight controls, power systems, flight deck control and information systems, including head-up displays, of which GEC Avionics is the world's biggest manufacturer. British firms have also been active in developing flight simulators and “fly-bywire” technology, in which the aircraft's control surfaces are manipulated electronically.

British companies like BAe, Marconi and GEC are engaged in producing satellites and equipment for the European Space Agency and others.

Other manufacturing

Other major industries include and furniture, paper, printing and publishing, rubber tyres and tubes toys, sports equipment and jewellery.

Service Industries

Services account for 65 per cent of Britain's gross domestic product and 71 per cent of employment. Services have generally experienced the fastest growth in recent decades. However, with the onset of recession, output dropped by 1.7 per cent in 1991, and spending on services declined by 2 per cent in real terms.

Financial Services

Britain is a major financial centre, housing some of the world's leading banking, insurance, securities, shipping, commodities, futures and other financial services and markets. The markets for financial and related services have grown and diversified greatly over the past decade. The heart of the industry is the collection of markets and institutions in and around the “Square Mile” in the City of London. This area has:

-the greatest concentration of banks in the world - responsible for about 20 per cent of total international bank lending;

-the world's biggest insurance industry - with about 20 per cent of the international market;

-one of the world's largest stock exchanges;

-the largest foreign exchange market in the world, with an average daily turnover of about $200,000 million;

-the role of principal international centre for transactions in a large number of commodities; and

-a full range of legal, accountancy and management consultancy services which contribute to London's strength as a financial centre.

Distributive and Allied Trades

In 1991 the distributive and allied trades employed some 3.4 million people and contributed about a sixth of national income. In recent years, the large multiple retailers have grown in size, reducing numbers of stores but increasing outlet size and diversifying their product ranges. Many towns and cities have purpose-built shopping centres. A number of regional out-of-town centres have also been established - one of the first was the Metro Centre at Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, which is the largest of its kind in Europe. Large retailers and wholesalers of food, drink and clothing operate their own extensive distribution networks using fleets of trailers, vans and lorries. In the food and drink trade almost all large retailers have their own buying and central distribution operations. Retailers are encouraged by discounts and other incentives to buy as much as possible from wholesalers. This has given small retailers the advantages of bulk buying and co-ordinated distribution.

Information technology is having a major impact on British retailing. Bar-codes on retail products are scanned at the checkout to generate a price and to store instant information about the depletion of its stock. Electronic data interchange (EDI) enables data contained in invoices and orders to be transmitted electronically, rather than by printing and posting a paper document. These systems are used increasingly, even by small independent retailers.

Computing Services

The computing services industry is now as large as the hardware market and is expanding more rapidly. Important areas for software development are data and word processing, telecommunications, computer-aided design and manufacturing, defence and consumer electronics. The financial services sector is a major user of computer systems. Logica, a leading British systems company and consultancy, has developed systems for the “LIoydslink” service that enables LIoyds Bank's corporate customers to conduct banking business using their personal computers.

The major retail banks and building societies operate about 18,000 automated teller machines or cash dispensers and nearly 200,000 terminals in retail outlets allow shoppers to pay for goods using a debit card to transfer funds electronically.

Промышленный переворот.

В конце XVII в. в Англии после революции, окончательно покончившей с феодализмом, установился буржуазно-демократический политический строй, продолжающий в основном существовать и в наше время. А сама Англия, победившая в борьбе за господство на морях в XVI в. Испанию, в XVII в. -- Голлан-дию, в XVIII в. -- Францию, превратилась в мировую супердержаву. Оставаясь небольшой страной, она стала центром огром-ной колониальной империи, куда входила почти вся Северная Америка, Индия и другие регионы. Это означало приток новых капиталов в английскую промышленность и растущий спрос на английские промышленные товары.

Почему капитализм побеждает только со второй половины XVIII в.? Потому что только с этого времени начинается промыш-ленный переворот -- переход от мануфактуры к фабрике, от руч-ного труда к машинам. Мануфактура с ее ручным трудом еще не может использовать все преимущества капитализма, преимуще-ства крупного производства перед мелким. Но промышленный переворот -- это не только переворот в тех-нике, он сопровождается изменениями и в общественных отношени-ях. Увеличивая производительность труда, т.е. количество продук-ции на занятого работника, машины увеличивают величину лишь прибавочного продукта, а необходимый продукт остается прежним. Если при переходе к машинам рабочий производит в 10 раз больше продукции, чем производив прежде, то его зарплата, расходы на его содержание не увеличиваются в 10 раз. Промышленный переворот завершает формирование двух классов буржуазного общества -- бур-жуазии и рабочего класса. Если на мануфактурной стадии производства рабочий еще мог надеяться стать хозяином, то завести оснащенную машинами фаб-рику на свои сбережения рабочий явно не мог. Между рабочим и капиталистом вырастает стена.

Сущность промышленного переворота в Англии.

В разных странах переворот происходил в разное время, но раньше всего он произошел в Англии. Началось с новой тогда от-расли промышленности -- хлопчатобумажной. Хлопчатобумажное производство с древности было развито в Индии. Оттуда ткани из хлопка привозили в Англию, и народ их охотно раскупал, потому что они были относительно дешевыми. Английские промышлен-ники попытались наладить хлопчатобумажное производство у себя дома, но оказались не в состоянии конкурировать с индийскими ткачами, ткани которых были и лучше, и дешевле. Перед хозяева-ми английских хлопчатобумажных мануфактур встала задача усовершенствовать производство, чтобы снизить стоимость продукции. Эта задача и была выполнена в результате серии изобретений.

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