The purpose of this note is to analyse the size of plant in Britain, Germany and some other European countries, in order to answer the question : are there any differences here which might throw light on Britain's competitive position?
The main conclusion concerns large plants-those employing more than 1,000 people-in Germany and Britain. In Germany these large plants tend to be larger, in terms of employment, than in Britain. This is particularly marked in plants in industries producing for export. In all manufacturing industry, the typical large German plant was one-tenth larger than the British (in employment) ; in the six most important export industries, it was found to be one-third larger.