Sony UK: Supplier Development and the Cooperative Ethos

Abstract

Sony’s Bridgend Colour television plant in South Wales was a milestone in Japanese investment Although not the first Japanese company to locate in Wales, it was the catalyst for considerable further investment in Wales in consumer electronics. The region now has over thirty Japanese-owned plants primarily engaged in consumer electronics, which represents the largest regional concentration anywhere in the EEC. The initial wave of original equipment manufacturers has been followed by a second wave of component suppliers. Sony remains, in employment terms, the largest single Japanese investment in the UK.