W EBER ’ S T HEORY OF I NDUSTRIAL L OCATION

A LFRED W EBER Alfred Weber was a German economist and sociologist. Born on 1868 in Erfurt and raised in Chatrlottenburg. One of 7 seven children. Weber lived in Nazi Germany during the second world war, and was a key part of a rebel group within the country. Weber developed his theory of industrial location soon after the end of the war, and died on 1958.

W EBER ’ S P UBLICATION Weber published Über den Standort der Industrie (Theory of the location of industries) in With this book Weber shared the first developed general theory of industrial location. His theory stated that buisnesses should be within close proxemity to the production of materials required to make the product and to the markets at which the product is sold, and in an area with the least amount of cost. Cost of Transportation Proxemity to market Proxemity to raw materials

W EBER ’ S THEORY PUT TO WORK His theory was used by large manufacturing plants and factories, but was also used for many other buisnesses such as finance, and even used for political and cultural systems. His theory with minor tweaks made is still used today by large corporations. Though Webers theory is used by many different companies each company slightly changes the idea to better suit there particular needs.

W EBER ’ S I NDUSTRIAL M ODEL Weber‘s model used several spatial factors to find prime locations of minimul cost for manufacturing facilities. Weber‘s model uses two seperate raw material distrioputers (S1 and S2). A manufacturing plant (P), and a market where the manufacturing plant sells its products (M). Ex. Market (M). A vegetable farm (S1). A cattle farm (S2). A food packaging factory (P). Transport route (------).

B REAK DOWN Weber’s theory is quite easily broken down with just simple common sense. If an industry such as a soda bottling company wanted to find its prime location according to the theory because the product gains in weight and size during manufacturing process the company would want to be closer to the market then the raw material providers because it costs more to deliver the heavier/larger the product. Where as say a paper producing company would want to be closer to the raw material sources because wood weighs more than the paper it is made into after manufacturing g thus cutting down on the price of manufacturing

W EBER ’ S INSPIRATION It is a well know fact that during Alfred Weber’s time attending the University of Berlin he studied Von Thunen’s theory of Regional Land Use. Which he later drew from to help develop his own theory. This quite evident as there are many similarities between the two theories.