The Economics of Industrial Location

This book explores the relationship between the location of the firm, the location of its markets and suppliers, and the inventory holding behaviour of the firm. Space costs and time costs are manifested in inventory costs. The examination of these inventory costs allows new insights into the reasons for observed industrial location behaviour. In particular, we see that transport costs are only a small part of total distance costs, and that the values of the goods being shipped and the value-added by the firm, are crucial location determinants. This approach is then extended to an analysis of Just-In-Time (JIT) production.