Locational Behavior of Manufacturing Firms in Urban Areas

Abstract

In Australia most manufacturing firms are forced to make at least two kinds of location decisions, one involving the merits of the six capital cities, and the other based on variables operating inside the metropolitan areas. This paper is concerned with the behavior of the individual manufacturing firm when making the latter decision; empirical data have been obtained from three case study areas in Sydney. There is purposeful economic behavior by firms in locating, the most important influences being closeness to product market and the cost of land. The spatial effect is an arrangement of manufacturers strongly oriented to the CBD and to centrally located transport terminals. In a theoretical context, the neglect of rent considerations is a serious weakness in traditional manufacturing location theory. The growing ability of firms to substitute among production factors also has important locational effects.USTRALIAN manufacturing is heavily

Work‐residence Relationships in the City

“…It is not argued that this sub-regionalisation represents a definitive structure of the metropolis. Indeed, other studies of economic activity in Sydney, for example in manufacturing (Logan, 1966), have shown the existence of strong linkages between the central area and the suburbs. But it appears that the city may be functioning as a network of subsystems within a total system, the complexity of which we do not fully understand.…”

Modeling intrametropolitan industrial location realistically

“…Many firms, particularly small * The equality and independence of birth, death, growth, and movement are subject to debate. Compare Leone's findings to Collins', and Struyk and James' findings to Reeder's firms, let personal factors determine their location (Greenhut, 1956;Logan, 1966;Malinowski and Kinnard, 1961), and this too introduces an element of chance into site selection.…”

Socioeconomic assessment guidance report: Determining the effects of amenity characteristics on business location decisions

“…This hypothesis leads one to question some of the assumptions on which location theory has been based, particularly the assumption that owners or decision makers make choices that fit within the notion of the "rational economic man" or the need to maximize utility (which conventionally excludes consideration of personal preferences) in every aspect of the operation of a business, including its location. The work of Greenhut (1956) and later reviews of industrial location literature by Logan (1966) and Smith (1981) note that a substantial amount of empirical evidence supports the importance of personal factors. The main conclusion of the reviewers seems to be that cost factors establish a broad region within which a location will be considered, and personal factors narrow the choice to a small number of locations or perhaps even a single location (StafTord 1974(StafTord , 1980Smith 1981).…”