Major Factors in Industrial Location: A Review

This article reviews findings of industrial location literature. Prior to the 1970s, the conventional view was that access to markets, labor, raw materials, and transportation were the dominant locational factors. More recent studies indicate that the traditional factors are still most important, but their dominance has been reduced as productivity, education, taxes, community attitudes toward business, and other factors have been recognized as influential. The most recently recognized locational determinants give additional scope to policies to enhance a community's economic competitiveness.