Economic and Noneconomic Factors Affecting Plant Location Decisions

Abstract

This paper describes two geographically separated studies concerning plant location decisions in the electronics industry. It was found that economic factors tend to outweigh noneconomic factors as important location decision variables for this industry. Differences in the importance of factor ordering was found between the two studies. The implications of location analysis are discussed with regard to differences in industries, geographical areas and local conditions. Overall, the study implies that the location decision is situational in nature.