Britain Tries for a Second Industrial Revolution

Cameron wants to boost manufacturing from 10 percent of British GDP, but weak export markets, complex regulation, and the supplier network are impediments Mark Stein, manager of General Motors’ (GM) Vauxhall van plant in Luton, 29 miles north of London, starts presentations with an aerial photo of the site in 1965. It shows a vast complex of buildings [...]

China Faces Upgrade-or-Die Deadline as Labor Supply Dwindles

(Updates with yuan’s closing price, in 12th paragraph.) Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — Lin Chang Jie is battling to save a family business making towels, cushions and robes in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo as a dwindling supply of workers forces him to pay higher wages. “I have to find a new way,” says Lin, [...]