Title: Webers View on Theory
1Webers View on Theory
Factual Materials
Pure Theory
Realistic Theory
2The Four Stages of the Productive and
Distributive Process
- Securing the place of the location and the fixed
capital for equipment - Securing the materials and the power and fuel
sources - The manufacturing process itself
- The shipping of the goods
3Cost involved in each stage of the productive and
distributive process
- Profit, the interest rates of the fixed and
operating capital of the different stages, and
the power, the cost of labor, transportation
costs, the general expenses and the cost of land. - Which of these elements vary according to
location and thus represent general regional
factors of location? - Labor costs and transportation costs
- Agglomerative or deglomerative factors
4Weberian Model Least Cost Approach
- Assumptions
- Uniform or isotropic plain in a single country
- One finished product at a time is considered
- The raw materials are fixed at certain locations
(known) and the point of consumption is also
fixed and known. - Labor is fixed geographically but its
availability is unlimited. - Transportation costs are a direct function of
weight of the item and the distance shipped.
5Factors Shaping Weberian Spatial Outcomes
- Transportation sets the general regional pattern
of manufacturing - Weight and Distance Material Index
- Then, consider spatial variations in the cost of
labor - Coefficient of Labor
- The final determinant is agglomeration economies
6Raw Material Classes
- Spatial Distribution of Availability
- Ubiquitous raw materials -- Air
- Localized raw materials -- Coal
- Weight Loss during Processing
- Pure raw materials water
- Gross raw materials Iron ores
7Transportations Costs
- The cost of collecting raw materials (RM)
- The cost of distributing the finished products
(FP) - The total transportation cost (TTC)
- TTC RM FP
8Case 1 Bottled and canned soft drink
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10Case 2 Copper Ore
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12Further Elaborations of Weberian Models
- Isotim a line of equal transport cost for any
material or product - Isodapane a line of equal total transport cost
13Cont
- Critical Isodapane isodapane which signifies the
outer limit for alternative locations
(alternative to the location with minimum
aggregate transport costs) in a Weberian
locational triangle or other polygon. Its
specification is dependent on the savings (labor
cost, scale- or agglomeration economies)
associated with such an alternative beyond the
critical isodapane, savings are not sufficient to
compensate for the additional transport costs.
14Finding Critical Isodapane
- Total transportation cost is minimized at Point
T, 4. As we move away from T, total
transportation costs increase. At Point L, labor
costs are 2 per unit less than at T. Then where
do you want to locate your firm? Find a critical
isodapane, too.
15Transportation Technologies and Critical
Isodapane t1
1
L
2
3
16Transportation Technologies and Critical
Isodapane t2
L
1
2
3
17Weber was Misunderstood!
- Contemporary spatial economists have focused on
Webers technical approach, Locational
Triangle. - Why?
- The partial reading of Webers works by the first
spatial economists who discovered him - The development of Operational Research
- Spatial economists do not even bother to re-read
Weber
18Post-Weberian Trends
- The Divisibility of the Industrial Process of
Production and Distribution - Locational Factors and Diversification
- Locational Factors and Division of Labor Between
Industries
19Divisibility of the Industrial Process 1
- In the first five chapters, Weber assumes that
the activity connected with the productive and
distributive process of an industry is a uniform
and indivisible thing which can only as a whole
be drawn to and from the material deposits and
the place of consumption by locational forces and
which goes on entirely independent of the
activities of other industries. (p.173)
20Divisibility of the Industrial Process 2
- This indivisibility of the productive process and
its independence of the productive processes of
other industries do not in fact exist (p. 173) ?
As a result, such processes were very seldom all
located in the same place. - Productive Process as a heap of little balls
which have been rolled together at one place by
the locational factors but which may be
redistributed by those factors
21Divisibility of the Industrial Process 3
- Once Weber rejects the hypothesis of the possible
indivisibility of productive and distributive
processes and the divisibility of the
manufacturing process, the agglomeration of these
processes, or parts of these processes, affects
their costs (economies of agglomeration).
22The Diversification of a Plant
- Weber p.196
- We have proceeded thus far on the assumption that
the various processes of industrial production
are independent of each other without any
relationship to one another. This is not the
case. They in fact interact upon one another in
various ways. - Different processes may be gathered within a
single plant, thus leading to a local linking of
independent industrial processes initially
located at some distance
23Division of Labor Between Industries 1
- Weber studies the emergence of auxiliary
industries which are responsible for part of a
divisible productive processes. - Reasons and conditions for auxiliary industries
- Location of auxiliary industries
24Division of Labor Between Industries 2
- Reasons and Conditions for Auxiliary Industries
- The complete technical equipment which is
necessary to carry out a process of production
may in highly developed industries become so
specialized that minutes parts of the process of
production utilize specialized machines and that
even quite large-scale plants are not able to
make full use of such equipment. Such specialized
machines must then, together with their own parts
of the process of production, be taken out of the
single large plant and must work for several of
them, i.e., become the basis of independent
auxiliary industries (128-129)
25Division of Labor Between Industries 3
- The Location of Auxiliary Industries 1
- Wrapping material manufacturinga logic of
exchange the location of the main industry will
be the same as that of the auxiliary industry, to
the extent that such location will make it
possible to minimize transportation costs - Industry of Investment Goodsa logic of
production location near the main industry
becomes a precondition for the production and
sale of equipment goods. These industries make up
a technical whole composed of mutually dependent
parts.
26Division of Labor Between Industries 4
- The Location of Auxiliary Industries 2
- The production and sales of auxiliary industry
seem to depend on whether it is located near the
customer companies or not. In such conditions,
agglomeration is not only a way of reducing
production and distribution costs owing to
economies of agglomeration in particular, but it
becomes a pre-condition for production. - The geographical concentration of the main
industry will make it possible to reach the
technical minimal point of concentration which is
required for the emergence of an auxiliary
industry