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Modern Britain has undergone a remarkable change in recent years: shifting from manufacturing to services. But is this good or bad news? Even though eight out of ten of us work in the service sector, there is still a tendency to look down on it.
Evan Davis travels to Dubai to explore how our service expertise has been successfully exported around the world and, back home, sees how British services make a fortune by attracting wealthy customers to the UK. Evan Davis shows how architects, communication specialists, universities and even estate agents together contribute billions of pounds to the economy.
But can we entirely rely on services to help us pay our way in the world? And what have been the social consequences of our great services experiment?
This episode of Made In Britain is first broadcast on BBC Two at 9pm on Monday 4th July. For further broadcast details, and iPlayer links, visit bbc.co.uk.
You can contribute your stories on how the UK manufacturing can build a winning economy by commenting below.
Explore the UK's trade
Visible Trade: A UK trade data visualisation tool
The Open University / Shipping containers © Videowokart | Dreamstime.com
Delve into 20 years’ worth of UK export and import data to discover some surprising stories about the UK’s trade relations with the rest of... Read more : Visible Trade: A UK trade data visualisation tool
Academic insights
Is British manufacturing still losing on penalties?
By bipolarbear via Flickr under Creative Commons license.
Leslie Budd looks at how, in the game of global trading, Germany appears to be maintaining its winning ways against the UK. Read more : Is British manufacturing still losing on penalties?
Learning from Germany’s economic model
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Matthew Hinton asks: how has Germany developed its manufacturing dominance? Read more : Learning from Germany’s economic model
'We don't make anything any more': Is it true that the UK is just a giant service centre?
Rainer Plendl | Dreamstime.com
Manufacturing is still a major part of the UK economy - and even financial service jobs depend on it remaining vibrant. So how do we... Read more : 'We don't make anything any more': Is it true that the UK is just a giant service centre?
Can British-owned intellectual property enlighten the British economy?
By woowoowoo via Flickr under Creative Commons license.
Leslie Budd looks at how the UK economy pays its way in the global economy by exploiting intellectual property (IP). Read more : Can British-owned intellectual property enlighten the British economy?
The Global Trade Trap: Goods or services?
Nomadsoul1 | Dreamstime.com
There's a changing pattern of trade in which services are being bought and sold across national boundaries. Leslie Budd explains. Read more : The Global Trade Trap: Goods or services?
What future for the UK service economy?
By Mike Turner via Flickr under creative commons license.
The series Made in Britain has set out to investigate how the British economy is evolving to meet the challenges of a much changed... Read more : What future for the UK service economy?
Find out more
'We don't make anything any more': Is it true that the UK is just a giant service centre?
Rainer Plendl | Dreamstime.com
Manufacturing is still a major part of the UK economy - and even financial service jobs depend on it remaining vibrant. So how do we... Read more : 'We don't make anything any more': Is it true that the UK is just a giant service centre?
Products, services and branding
Image by Shreyans Bhansali under CC-BY-NC-SA licence
In this free unit, learn how organisations manage their products and services, including how an existing portfolio of offerings is managed. Read more : Products, services and branding
More about Made in Britain
OU on the BBC: Made In Britain
BBC
Evan Davis takes on the belief that the UK doesn't make things any more, finding the evidence that we're still, in part, an industrialised nation. Read more : OU on the BBC: Made In Britain
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