Industrial Organization and the Logic of Intra-Metropolitan Location, III: A Case Study of the Women's Dress Industry in the Greater Los Angeles Region

The locational evolution of the printed circuits industry in the Greater Los Angeles Region from 1968 to 1982 is described. The main dimensions of the intra-sectoral organization and spatial structure of the industry are identified by means of factor analysis. It is shown how technology and scale of production are interrelated. An analysis is then made of linkage arrangements and their correlates. Here, particular attention is paid to subcontracting relationships and their effects on geographical pattern. The analysis is then synthesized on two fronts. First, a descriptive account is given of the geography of the printed circuits industry in the Orange County area. Second, it is demonstrated that small-scale, labor-intensive plants are systematically more spatially concentrated than large-scale, capitalintensive plants. This is shown to be a result of industrial organization/location dynamics. The implications of these dynamics for the further spatial evolution of the industry are then reconsidered.