Studied by 18 people
Agglomeration
Grouping together of many firms from the same industry in a single area for collective or cooperative use of infrastructure and sharing of labor resources.
Assembly Line
In a factory, an arrangement where a product is moved from worker to worker, with each person performing a single task in the making of the product.
Basic Industry
Industries that sell their products or services primarily to consumers outside the settlement
Break-of-Bulk Point
A location where large shipments of goods are broken up into smaller containers for delivery to local markets.
Brownfield
A property which has the presence or potential to be a hazardous waste, pollutant or contaminant.
Bulk-Gaining Industry
An industry in which the final product weighs more or has a greater volume than the inputs.
Bulk-Reducing Industry
An industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs.
Capital
Money owned in a business by a corporation or person
Complementarity
Relationship between a demand for a product and the surplus of the same product
Cottage Industry
Manufacturing based in homes rather than in a factory, commonly found before the Industrial Revolution.
Deindustrialization
Process by which companies move industrial jobs to other regions with cheaper labor, leaving the newly deindustrialized region to switch to a service economy and to work through a period of high unemployment
Deglomeration
The process of deconcentration; the location of industrial or other activities away from established agglomerations in response to growing costs of congestion, competition, and regulation
Distance Decay
The effects of distance on interaction, generally the greater the distance the less interaction
Economies of Scale
The property whereby long-run average total cost falls as the quantity of output increases
Export Processing Zone
Region of a less-developed country that offer tax breaks and loosened labor restrictions to attract export-driven production processes, such as factories producing goods for foreign markets; sometimes called free-trade zone. Certain areas of a nation where standard trade barriers are diminished and mandates are alleviated to gain business and investments.
Footloose Industry
Industry not bound by locational constraints and able to choose to locate wherever it wants. Located in a wide variety of places without a significant change in its cost of transportation, land, labor, and capital. Location not influenced by access to materials.
Fordism
Form of mass production in which each worker is assigned one specific task to perform repeatedly.
Post-Fordism
Adoption by companies of flexible work rules, such as the allocation of workers to teams that perform a variety of tasks.
Friction of Distance
A measure of the restraining effect of distance on spatial interaction. Generally, the greater the distance, the greater the cost and time of achieving the exchange.
Global Division of Labor
Corporations can draw from labor around the globe for different components of production
Industrial Inertia
The refusal of a company to leave its original location even when the reasons that made the location suitable or advantageous have disappeared.
Industrial Revolution
A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.
Infrastructure
Fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants, and schools
Intermodal Connections
Places where two or more modes of transportation meet (including air, road, rail, barge, and ship)
Just-in-Time Delivery
Method of inventory management made possible by efficient transportation and communication systems, whereby companies keep on hand just what they need for near-term production, planning that what they need for longer-term production will arrive when needed.
Labor-Intensive
Type of industry in which labor cost is a high percentage of expense.
Least-Cost Theory
A concept developed by Alfred Weber to describe the optimal location of a manufacturing establishment in relation to the costs of transport and labor, and the relative advantages of agglomeration or deglomeration
Location Theory
Firms choose locations that maximize their profits and individuals choose locations that maximize their utility.
Locational Interdependence
Locational dependency occurs when a firm's ability to operate depends on its closeness to things like other companies, tourist sites, or transit routes, and/or when customers desire or require the company to be in a certain place.
Manufacturing Region
A region in which manufacturing activities have clustered together.
Maquiladora
Factories built by US companies in Mexico near the US border to take advantage of much lower labor costs in Mexico.
Mass Production
Production of goods in large numbers through the use of machinery and assembly lines
New International Division of Labor
Transfer of some types of jobs, especially those requiring low-paid less skilled workers, from more developed to less developed countries.
Non-Basic Industry
Industries that sell their products primarily to consumers in the local community.
Outsourcing
A decision by a corporation to turn over much of the responsibility for production to independent suppliers or unaffiliated vendors.
Offshore
With reference to production, to outsource to a third party located outside of the country.
Sunbelt
States in the south and southwest that have a warm climate and tend to be politically conservative
Alfred Weber
German geographer who was a major theorists of industrial location. He devised a model of how to understand industrial locations in regard to several factors, including labor supply, markets, resource location, and transpiration.
Primary Industry
The part of the economy that produces raw materials; examples include agriculture, fishing, mining, and forestry.
Primary Industrial Regions
Western and Central Europe; Eastern North America; Russia and Ukraine; and Eastern Asia, each of which consists of one or more core areas of industrial development with subsidiary clusters
Raw Materials
The basic material from which a product is made.
Right-to-Work State
A U.S. state that has passed a law preventing a union and company from negotiating a contract that requires workers to join a union as a condition of employment.
Site Characteristics
Location factors related to the cost of factors of production inside the facility. (Land, Labor, Capital)
Situation Characteristics
Location factors related to the transportation of materials into and from a factory.
Secondary Industry
Industries that deal with making products that are likely to be directly consumed by individuals.
Substitution Principle
Principle that maintains that the correct location of a production facility is where the net profit is the greatest. Therefore in industry, there is a tendency to substitute one factor of production (e.g., labor) for another (e.g., capital for automated equipment) in order to achieve optimum location.
Technopole
A center of high-tech manufacturing and information-based industry.
Textile
A fabric made by weaving, used in making clothing
Varignon Frame
A system of weights and pulleys used to help determine the optimum location of a production facility.
Variable Costs
Costs that vary with the quantity of output produced
Weber, Alfred
German economist who developed in 1909 a theory for the location of industries that focused on transportation, labor, and agglomeration as factors of production affecting the optimal (least cost) industrial location.
Note
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