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The history of British cinema is often approached from the perspective of charting and analysing the history of British film production, taking in the contribution made by directors, actors, writers and studios. In this thesis I assert that a history of British cinema ought to take into consideration what was being presented to British audiences in cinemas. During this period independent distributors imported hundreds of European films into the UK to fill the constant need cinemas had for new product, a need which could not be met from Hollywood or the British film industry alone. This thesis focuses on specific popular genres; the peplum, or sword-and-sandal film, the Eurospy thriller and sexploitation. The latter is further divided into loose sub-genres; the prostitution drama, the “Mondo” documentary and the sex education film. Taking the lead from the New Film History and the work of Sarah Street in document analysis, material is used from several different archives to reveal information about the practices of these chosen distributors, which enables an original view on the way independent distribution worked in the 1960s and 1970s. Oral history interviews with people who either worked in the sector or who had direct contact with the distributors under discussion are also included, offering new information and historical data. These interviews provide a unique insight into a part of the film industry which has otherwise been neglected by official histories of British cinema. Analysis of some of the key texts has also taken place, in order to present a wider understanding of the genres and the way the marketing material and exploitation techniques often served to misrepresent the texts themselves. Issues around Imperialism and Orientalism have been explored in relation to some of these texts to contextualise the genres under discussion. The findings of this thesis demonstrate that, for historians, the field is still open to new areas of research.

This thesis explores the significance of ethnic ties and entrepreneurial social networks in the internationalization processes of small and medium-sized enterprises. It explores whether such networks can be leveraged in order to enhance the business performance of individual firms, whilst simultaneously enhancing the international competitiveness and performance of the UK at an aggregate level. The above dimension was explored by focusing the study on UK Indian Enterprise. The reason for this focus was because the UK Indian community constitutes the single largest ethnic minority community in the UK. The qualitative study was devised by synthesising and integrating a number of pertinent literature streams, i. e. internationalization, SMEs, Asian Enterprise, Culture, and Networks. The study revealed that the nature and dynamics of the sample frame support the findings of past studies relating to Asian Enterprise and Asian Entrepreneurship. The findings highlight that deficiencies in formalised planning processes, financing, and professional management practices exist amongst the firms; and similarities can be drawn with the deficiencies and problems recognised to exist for family owned SMEs, and SMEs per se, regardless of ethnicity. A key issue facing the bulk of firms was that of 'diversification'and 'breakout', especially for firms operating in declining industrial sectors such as Textiles. It emerged that the internationalization process pursued by firms was in line with the internationalization literature relating to 'export development models', which suggests that firms develop and grow their international activities in phases/stages, i. e. Pre-engagement, Initial and Advanced. With regard to 'Ethnic Ties'and 'Entrepreneurial Social Networks', the study's findings revealed that such networks do play an important role in the dynamics of UK Indian Enterprise. It was also identified that: Indian social netw national settings; the importance attached to Indian Networks over the three (3) internationalization phases diminishes; and the international networks of UK Indians do not necessarily provide them with a significant advantage for internationalization, primarily because of issues relating to the competency, capabilities, and the synergy potential which exists with their international network contacts. The study's findings suggest that changes in UK Indian cultural norms, which will influence the business practices of future generations, will be increasingly influenced by Western business practices and ideology, which may well influence the internationalization practices of UK Indian enterprises in the future as shifts in management paradigms surface. It also materialised that mainstream business support services were ineffective and lacking in both engaging and facilitating the internationalization activities of the participating firms. This supports the findings of past studies i n this area. From a international policy perspective, the study reveals that although government advice and guidance services may be of assistance to SMEs per se (in the main firms which are already engaged in international activity), they do not address the needs of many firms which are at the 'preinternationalization' stage, seeking to address questions orientated around 'whether', 'where' and 'how' to Internationalize. In addition, this non take-up of services would appear to be more acute for ethnic minority enterprises.

Empirical work in relation to the entry and exit of plants in UK manufacturing industries has been affected by a lack of information available to researchers. This thesis provides evidence on the entry and exit of plants in UK manufacturing industries during the 1974-97 period, using the newly released ARD dataset. In order to provide a better understanding of entry and exit of plants the following aspects were investigated: 1) the magnitude of plant entry and exit in UK manufacturing sectors during the 1974-97 period; 2) the determinants of the entry decision; and 3) the determinants of the exit decision. The findings revealed that UK manufacturing industries were characterised by a high-level of dynamics. Competition was intense and was increasing especially towards the end of the 1990s period. Therefore, the notion of "creative destruction" appeared to be of particular relevance in UK manufacturing industries. In studying the entry decision, new plants were divided into three categories: 1) those opened by domestic de-novo firms; 2) those opened by domestic incumbents; and 3) those opened by foreign firms. It was found that: 1) different types of entrants showed significant differences in their entry behaviour; 2) both industrial and geographical specific factors affect the entry decision; 3) the role played by the industry life cycle could not be ignored, as the effect of some factors on entry significantly differed across the two different stages of the industry life cycle; and 4) fundamental differences between the northern and southern regions of the UK significantly affected the impact of given factors on entry. In studying the exit decision the most important findings were: 1) the role that the age of a plant played in determining the impact of some variables on its risk of closure; and 2) the positive impact of change in ownership on the risk of closure of plants.

This thesis reviews the history of the semiconductor industry during the period 1950 to 1985 and identifies the major factors governing its development. It also analyses the reasons for the failure of British manufacturing companies to develop on a more competitive scale. The development of the British semiconductor industry, almost from the start, took place within an environment dominated by large foreign multinational companies. Operating under conditions of technical lag and with increasing penetration of its markets, it concentrated, aided by funding from the Ministry of Defence, on producing specialised solid-state components for the much smaller military market. Because of its size, this market was not sufficiently large to initiate the pump-priming action which was such an important feature in bringing about the success of its American counterpart. Generous Government inducements, aimed at attracting multinational companies to British shores, did little to assist the development of the indigenous industry, which, underfunded, underprotected and increasingly restricted to niche markets by competitors, soon fell into relative decline. Direct Governmental assistance to the ailing commercial sector of the British semiconductor industry came too late substantially to affect the situation. Both inconsistency and lack of continuity in policy towards the industry, under successive Governments, did not improve the confidence of industrial management, nor encourage a more long-term outlook. It is argued within this thesis that the best chance of industrial success would have been to adopt a national policy towards the industry at an early stage, with substantial funding on a long-term basis, together with adequate import controls. The epilogue concludes that only within a European framework might it now be possible to build a semiconductor manufacturing industry, eventually capable of competing on equal terms with overseas rivals.