4.5+Locating+industry

What affects the location of industries :
**__These can be divided into Physical Causes:__**
 * Raw material: in the case of products that require heavy and bulky raw materials, the site of the factory is often close to the source, such cement factories need lots of limestone.
 * Energy supply: when the energy source was water or coal, proximity to these sources was important. Now electricity is the major energy source, industry is less tied to a particular place
 * Natural routes: physically inaccessible places often lack large towns and transport is not easy. Factories in the middle of a mountain area or one liable to flood, such as delta do not make good factory sites
 * Site and land: the land needs to be easy to develop and offer enough space for the particular product's production. A small site on a hill side or in an unstable area of groud would not be attractive

__**Human and economic influences**__
 * Labour: labour needs to be sufficient (enough of them), at the right price (not too expensive) and have the right level of education. Depending on how complex the work is, the factory owner might prefer people with only basic education or with a much higher level of technical expertise
 * Market: being close to the point of sale is important for some industries but might be irrelevant to others. Goods that are very bulky ( e.g. cars) or of low value (e.g.coco cola) or easily damaged or with a short shelf life (some fresh produce e.g salad goods or bread) might need to be made near the market. However some others, like oranges and fresh fruit travel well, with a lot being packed into a small space and often travel by sea, much cheaper than air travel for example.
 * Transport: whether your factory is near the market or far away, a good transport network is often important. Good motorways, rail system and access to a port and/or airport might strongly influence the siting of any new enterprise
 * Land costs: land costs and building costs can influence exactly where the factory will be. Brownfield sites are easy to get permission to build on and often have water, power etc already in situ. However, the area has by its nature been used before and this will add extra costs to clear them. In addition brownfield sites often carry a higher price tag as they are nearer the centre of the settlement. Greenfield sites are cheaper, often on the outskirts and often near a ring or main road (so have good transport links) but they usually do not have any services present and consequently this add significantly yo set up costs. In many areas, greenfield site development is not encouraged by local councils and so permission is hard to obtain
 * Capital: either you need investors or a bank that believes in you - or you area big company that has acticity elsewhere and use your own money in the enterprise
 * Government Policy: increasingly, this is becoming an important issue as policy can encourage and discourage industrial activity.

In some cases, 2 or more influences compete with each other. For example in the production of cement, clay limestone and sand are all necessary, and these are bulky, heavy materials – much heavier than the finished products, so the best place for such a factory would be close to the sources of raw materials. However, in some other industries, where the raw materials/components are less expensive to transport, but require a lot of labour, then availability of enough workers, who have the right level of education and are not too expensive, may be a greater pull. Examples of these are in the MIC countries that are becoming more developed such as China, India and the Tiger economies (S Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan). In other cases, the proximity of the market is important. The market is not so important for other industries such as high-tech whose products are light in weight and cheap to transport. The location of materials are less important too, for similar reasons. Such industries are said to be ' footloose ', because they are not tied to raw materials, markets or energy. For energy supply, when coal was the main source and to a lesser extent water, proximity to the mine/river was essential. However, now that electricity the main energy source, there is more freedom to site the factories. But in some LICs, industrial development is still being held back by the lack of reliable electrical power. A good transport system is essential for modern industry, for the delivery of raw materials/components, for transportation to the market. It also reduces costs. For goods for export ports/airports need to be readily accessible. For internal distribution, a good railway system is cheaper but a being near a motorway or town bypass has advantages too. Both of these latter 2 are more likely where there are natural routes through the environment. For international transportation, from a port or international airport may be attractive Having located a general area, then the precise site needs to be found. Greenfield (undeveloped) sites are cheaper to buyer and cheaper to develop. Brownfield sites (those that have been used before) tend to be more expensive to buy as they are closer to city centres and also costly to develop as they need to be cleared of previous use and checked for pollution sources. Often the brownfield sites do have drainage and power close by but the road system may be old and winding and poorly maintained. However, the best greenfield sites are on the edge of built up areas and close to main roads or bypasses. They may not have had services and power nearby, so this will be an additional cost. Other questions include, is the site flat and large enough for purpose? Is it well drained? Is the access good? Finally, will the money be available to develop the site and what is the government attitude? Many new factories are sites in particular places because of government Policy. Put it where they want you to and there are all sorts of advantages. Choose differently, and the chances of you making a profit go down substantially. These advantages can include
 * those that produce bulky, heavy goods that are expensive to transport, e.g. car factories and Coco-Cola
 * those that produce perishable or fragile goods, e.g. food products
 * those that provide services to people,
 * Cheap land
 * Low taxes
 * New infrastructure provided by government ( as in Malaysia where roads, railways, ports and airports were all added to attract inward investment.
 * Facilities for training the necessary workforce

The EU has a cohesion policy in which it promote harmonious development" and aims particularly to "narrow the gap between the development levels of the various regions". So regions that have  receive funds from the EU to put this right, and hence areas that are receiving this extra funding make good areas for new industry to settle as obtaining permission to build will be easier and the back ground well resourced. There are several examples of this. Southern Italy has recieved a lot of development funds as has North East England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
 * low level of investment;
 * a higher than average unemployment rate;
 * lack of services for businesses and individuals;
 * poor basic infrastructure

Three good audio explanations of locating of industry - a bit more than you might need but lots of examples
Part 1 : media type="file" key="location1.mp3" width="240" height="20" Part 2: media type="file" key="location2.mp3" width="240" height="20" Part 3: media type="file" key="location3.mp3" width="240" height="20"