Manufacturing & Industrial Location
Theory – Chapter 10
Questions – Assignment 2?
 3 lectures left!
 Chapter 11 Reading Guide:
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– High Technology
– Cycle Theory
– Fordism-Flexible Specialization
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Agriculture
– Trends
– Eras
– Von Thünen and Location theory
High Technology
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High technology is New technology
– Semi-conductors, software engineering
biotechnology, new materials
– Complementary role of services
– Outsourcing
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Metropolitan centres retain competitive
advantage for high tech mfg.
Cycle Theory
Regions (Chap 11)
 Products (Chap 10)
 Biological development metaphors
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– Youth
– Maturity
– Old age
From Fordism to Post-Fordism &
Flexible Specialization
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Fordism
– Mass production & economies of scale
– Assembly line
– Specialized
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Post-Fordism
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Economies of scope
Constellations of small firms
Networks
Flexible specialization
 Rapid switching among products
 Multi-purpose machines and workers
 New industrial districts
Agriculture
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Rural-Urban contrast
Population:
~ 20% rural population
• ~ 15% rural, non-farm
• < 5% rural farm
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Labour force:
• 3.1% in agriculture
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Rapid gains in productivity
Capital intensive agriculture
Structural Change in Cattle Production: The Big X
Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture
Focus on Two Regions and a Single Class of Cattle
Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture
Agriculture and Policy: Why does agriculture have
such a huge role on the policy agenda?
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Strategic importance
• Urban dependence
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Supply volatility
• Weather/disease/pests
• Capital intensive
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Demand volatility
• Trade
• Preferences/technology change
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Commodity prices
Close links to many other sectors
1st Agricultural Revolution
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Paleolithic
• Hunting/fishing/gathering
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Neolithic Revolution 10000-12000 BP
• Cultivation
• Domestication
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Social surplus
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Urbanization
Division of labour
Written language
State
Agrarian civilization
2nd Agricultural Revolution
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c. 1750
break down of feudalism and common field
systems
linked with industrial revolution and
increasing population pressure and urban
growth
use of fertilizer, crop rotation and
mechanization
use of legumes to restore soil nitrogen
improved breeding plants & livestock
gradual rural depopulation
mechanization
3rd Agricultural Revolution
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c. 1928
collectivisation in the Soviet Union
Sovkhoz: state farms
• really huge grain and meat factories
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Mechanization via internal combustion
Chemical fertilizers/herbicides/
Pesticides/Pharmaceuticals
Biotechnology
Ecumene
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Settled area of earth’s surface
Arable land and some pasture
Agriculture is geographically
dispersed
Extensive land use relative to most
others
Intensity of land use:
• Labour to land ratio (person hours/acre)
• Capital to land ratio ($/acre)