Organizational growth, spatial interaction and location decision-making

Abstract

Taylor M. J. (1975) Organizational growth, spatial interaction and location decision-making. Reg. Studies. 9, 313–323. Industrial linkages, long distinguished as important locational determinants, are suggested as defining the spatial context within which a firm operates and the area within which location decisions are made. Using data for the ironfoundry industry of the West Midlands conurbation, this spatial context is divided into three elements; an action space defined by material linkages, an information space defined by information flows, and a decision space reflecting the filtered information from all sources upon which a firm acts. The spatial context of the firm is envisaged as expanding with organizational growth which is itself punctuated with thresholds which involve organizational metamorphosis. In this way investment decision-making in a firm is placed in a dynamic spatial framework that emphasizes the behavioural aspects of the process.