Jute, firm's survival, and British industrial policy: Government action under globalization

Industrial policy within the United Kingdom has a long and detailed history. Early forms of government regulation of industrial development can be dated back at least to the formation of monopoly companies in the form of the East and West India Companies for the exploitation of trade with the East and West Indies.1 More commonly, however, industrial policy is considered to have evolved in the twentieth century in response to the collapse of free trade and the Great Depression. The development of a ‘managed economy’ from the interwar years and extended further, following the successful organization of industry in wartime Britain, into the post-war era marked a new era in government’s role within the private economy.2