Locational Adjustment and the Characteristics of Manufacturing Plants

Bibliographic Data

ID8962737
AuthorsM J Healey, Mick Healey (0000-0003-1195-0370, corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume6
Issue4
Pages394-394
Publication date1981-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2307/621876
OpenAlexW2334519289
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited20

In times of economic recession and de-industrialization the importance of locational adjustment is enhanced by the reduction in the amount of mobile industry and the increase in the frequency with which firms rationalize the location of their production units. This paper analyses the locational adjustments experienced between 1967 and 1972, by 64 multi-plant enterprises in the textile and clothing industries of the United Kingdom. Over 70 per cent of the 315 plants operated in 1967 by the companies studied were transferred, closed or sold; were altered in size; or had changed their products. Changes in size and closures were the most common types of adjustment. The overall hypothesis, that the characteristics of plants affect the frequency with which they experience various types of locational adjustment, was amply supported. Specific hypotheses related ten plant characteristics (size; space for extension; age; acquired recently; opened recently; distance from head office; intra-company material linkages; managerial linkages; status within the organization; and industrial growth rate) to eight types of locational adjustment. Approximately 80 per cent of the significant relationships were in the direction specified in the hypotheses. The attributes of the plants which had most influence on the types of adjustment experienced were their size, capacity for extension, date of opening, and their status within the organization. The characteristics of plants, though not significant influences in all the cases suggested in the literature, are, nevertheless, one of the factors which should be examined to account for the process of locational adjustment

Business · Economic geography · Geography · Global Trade and Competitiveness · Global trade and economics · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis

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