Basic Location Factors

Location factors can be subdivided into three general functional categories:

• Site. Specific micro-geographical characteristics of the site, including the availability of land, basic utilities, the visibility (for activities related to prestige such as head offices), amenities (quality of life) and the nature and level of access to local transportation (such as the proximity to an highway). These factors have an important effect on the costs associated with a location.
• Accessibility. Include a number of opportunity factors related to a location, mainly labor (wages, availability, level of qualification), materials (mainly for raw materials dependent activities), energy, markets (local, regional and global) and accessibility to suppliers and customers (important for intermediate activities). These factors tend to have a meso (regional) connotation.
• Socioeconomic environment. Specific macro-geographical characteristics that tend to apply to jurisdictional units (nation, region, locality). They consider the availability of capital (investment, venture), varied subsidies, regulations, taxation and technology.

The role and importance of each factor depends on the nature of the activity which locational behavior is being investigated.

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