Northern Ireland's environmental industry: an examination of the eco-capital equipment producing sector

✍ Scribed by Martin Eaton; Tom Stark

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 206 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0964-4733
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0836(199903/04)8:2<108::aid-bse192>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

In common with much of the rest of the European Union, Northern Ireland has a small but important and expanding environmental industry. The region's 'green economy' employs almost 13 000 people and is projected to grow by a further 4000-6000 jobs by the end of the millennium. This article focuses upon one small-scale sub-sector -the eco-capital equipment producers -and analyses their recent industrial performance in the context of current regional development/industrial strategy theory. Drawing on empirical survey, comment is made on the sector's employment characteristics, production sequences, market structures and business operating experiences. Based on this discussion, a series of suggestions is offered that could help central and regional government improve the performance of the industry, and, in turn, the economy of the region, still further.