Steel is the mainstay of the world’s major industries. Worldsteel production has grown dramatically as countries industrialize andadd their own steel-producing capacity. China’s prodigiousexpansion of steel output increases the industry’s naturalvulnerability to oversupply and volatile prices.
Big Steel explores how the integrated steel industry isadapting to trade and international competition. These arise from theindustry’s diffusion beyond its historical core in North Americaand Europe. To show how this occurred, Big Steel applies PaulKrugman’s Nobel-Prize-winning explanation of industrial locationand trade. The industry’s technology and economic structure, andthe pricing strategies available, produce fateful competition andincentives to consolidate internationally. Examining theindustry’s survival options, including close co-operation withits primary customers, the automakers, this book anticipates acosmopolitan future. It is a straightforward account of a complicatedprocess, and the development of a new phase in the global steelbusiness.