Efficiency and Organization in Scotland's Iron and Steel Industry during the Interwar Period

T H HE argument has been advanced that insofar as British industry exhibited a degree of overcommitment of resources to its less productive sectors during the interwar period it was probably more a matter for central action rather than something to be left to the forces of the market. That is,. however high the quality of its entrepreneurs, private industry was, on its own, largely incapable of securing the types of structural change necessary for the economy's long-term well-being.' This article sets out to examine such a hypothesis with regard to the iron and steel industry in Scotland. Traditionally criticized as being intensely individualistic and conservative, the Scottish iron and steel industry experienced in the years after i 9i8 many of the problems-such as. surplus capacity and unfavourable market environment-typical of the staple trades as a whole. An examination of the nature and performance of the industry sheds some light on the capacity of entrepreneurs effectively to deal with the problems with which they were confronted. In this context, too, it is important to consider whether such problems were in any case susceptible to individual entrepreneurial control. The first section analyses the performance of the industry in Scotland between the wars, thereby serving a dual purpose. First, it underlines the serious nature of the difficulties confronting iron and steel producers during the period. Second, it highlights the unfavourable product structure of the industry and questions the extent to which this might be attributed to inadequate entrepreneurship. Sections ii, III, and iv examine the technical deficiencies ofthe industry and permit certain conclusions to be drawn about the quality of entrepreneurial performance. Finally, section v draws the threads together and considers the grounds for believing that more positive and forward-looking entrepreneurship might have obviated many of the observed weaknesses of the industry. The evidence is mixed but, as will be shown, the iron and steel producer in Scotland should perhaps be. regarded in a more favourable light than has hitherto been the case

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