Presented in this paper is a formal economic model that identifies the optimal intraurban location for a producer-service vendor that caters to the technical needs of spatially dispersed clients in the manufacturing sector. Two major components are incorporated into the model. The first of these describes the oft-cited externalization process among industrial firms, where in-house service provision is selectively abandoned in favor of out-sourcing. The second component describes a vendor location process based on profit maximization, where buyers and sellers are optimally located relative to one another. Normative modeling propositions are then compared with current empirical streams in the literature on producer-service location, the role of manufacturing demand, and the process of selective vertical disintegration among industrial firms. The paper is concluded with a brief research agenda for modeling the intraurban locational behavior of specialist firms in the producer services.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllenJ, 1988, “Service industries: Uneven development and uneven knowledge”AREA2015–22
2.
BeyersW B, 1989The Producer Services and Economic Development in the United States: The Last DecadeUS Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, Technical Assistance and Research Division, Washington, DC 20230
3.
BeyersW B, 1990, “Changing business practices and the growth of the producer services: Geographical implications”, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Toronto, April 1990; copy available from BeyersW B, Department of Geography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
4.
BlumenfeldH, 1955, “The economic base of the metropolis: Critical remarks on the basic: Non-basic concept”Journal of the American Institute of Planners21114–132
5.
BrittonJ L H, 1988, “Regional innovation policy”, paper presented at the 35th North American Meeting of the Regional Science Association, Toronto, 11–13 November; copy available from BrittonJ L H, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A1
6.
CoffeyW JPolèseM, 1987a, “Trade and location of producer services: A Canadian perspective”Environment and Planning A19597–611
7.
CoffeyW JPolèseM, 1987b, “Intrafirm trade in producer services: Implications for the location of office-based activities”Papers of the Regional Science Association6271–80
8.
CoffeyW JPolèseM, 1988, “Service activities and regional development: A policy-oriented perspective”, paper presented at the 35th North American Meeting of the Regional Science Association, Toronto, 11–13 November; copy available from CoffeyW J and PolèseM, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Quebec, 3465 rue Durocher, Montreal, Quebec H2X 2C6
9.
DanielsP W, 1983, “Service industries: Supporting role on centre stage?”AREA15301–309
10.
DanielsP W, 1989, “Some perspectives on the geography of services”Progress in Human Geography13427–437
11.
EiseltHLaporteG, 1989, “The maximum capture problem in a weighted network”Journal of Regional Science29433–439
GadG, 1975Toronto's Central Office Complex: Growth, Structure and Linkages unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 1A1
14.
GershunyJMilesI, 1983The New Service Economy (Frances Pinter, London)
15.
GreenfieldH I, 1966Manpower and the Growth of Producer Services (National Bureau of Economic Research, New York)
16.
HarringtonJ W, 1989, “Trade in services between the US and Canada: Status and prospects”, OP-2, Canada-United States Trade Centre, Department of Geography, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14261
17.
HarringtonJ WLombardJ R, 1989, “Producer-service firms in a declining manufacturing region”Environment and Planning A2165–79
18.
HepworthM E, 1989The Geography of the Information Economy (Frances Pinter, London)
19.
HowellsJ, 1988Economic, Technological and Locational Trends in European Services (Avebury, Aldershot, Hants)
20.
IllerisS, 1989, “Producer services: The key sector for future economic development?”Entrepreneurship and Regional Development1267–274
21.
KokJOffermanG J DPellenbargP H, 1984, “The regional distribution of innovative firms in the Netherlands”, in A Profile of Dutch Economic Geography Eds SmidtMWeaverEVan Gorcum, Assen) pp 129–149
22.
KrmenecAEsparzaA, 1990, “Regional differences in the externalization of producer services”, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Toronto, April; copies available from KrmenecA, Department of Geography, Centre for Governmental Studies, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115
23.
KuznetsS, 1938Commodity Flow and Capital Formation. Volume 1 (National Bureau of Economic Research, New York)
24.
MacPhersonA, 1988Service-to-manufacturing Linkages and Industrial Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Metropolitan Toronto unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 1A1
25.
MacPhersonA, 1990, “Local export opportunities under the Canadian—US Free Trade Agreement: The case of medical instruments and chemical/pharmaceuticals”, report prepared for the Western New York Economic Development Corporation, Buffalo, NY 14261
26.
MarshallJ N, 1983, “Business-service activities in British provincial conurbations”Environment and Planning A151343–1360
27.
MarshallJ N, 1986, “Producer services in a depressed manufacturing economy”, paper presented at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Minneapolis, 2–3 May; copies available from the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU
28.
NoyelleT JStanbackT MJr, 1984The Economic Transformation of Cities (Roman and Allanheld, Totowa, NJ)
29.
RothwellRZegveldW, 1985Reindustrialization and Technology (Longman, Harlow, Essex)
30.
SchuttJWhittingtonR, 1987, “Fragmentation strategies and the rise of small units: Cases from the northwest”Regional Studies2113–23
31.
ScottA J, 1986, “Industrial organization and urbanization: A geographical agenda”Annals of the Association of American Geographers7625–37
32.
StablerJ CHoweE C, 1988, “Service exports and regional growth in the post-industrial era”Journal of Regional Science28303–315
33.
StanbackTNoyelleT, 1982Cities in Transition (Roman and Allanheld, Totowa, NJ)
34.
TeitzMBartP, 1968, “Heuristic methods for estimating the generalized vertex median of a weighted graph”Operations Research16955–961
35.
TschettlerJ, 1987, “Producer service industries: Why are they growing so rapidly?”Monthly Labor Review December, pp 31–40
36.
WalkerR A, 1985, “Is there a service economy? The changing capitalist division of labor”Science and Society1 (Spring) 42–83
37.
WheelerJ OMitchelsonR L, 1989, “Atlanta's role as an information center: Intermetropolitan spatial links”Professional Geographer41162–172
