WEBER’S THEORY OF LOCATION

WHO WAS ALFRED WEBER?

Alfred Weber (30 July 1868 – 2 May 1958) was

a German economist, sociologist and theoretician of culture whose work was influential

in the development of modern economic geography.

LIFE OF WEBER

From 1907 to 1933, Weber was a professor at the University of

Heidelberg until his dismissal following criticism of Hitlerism.

WEBER’S THEORY OF LOCATION

ASSUMPTIONS OF WEBER’S

THEORY OF LOCATION

A. The centre of consumption are

fixed

PRODUCTION

MANUFACTUREOF

PARTS

ASSEMBLY OF PARTS

FOR FINISHED GOODS

PACKAGING OF FINISHED GOODS

B. The cost of raw material is the same at all places even though the

distribution of deposits of raw materials is uneven.

C. There are fixed centres of labour supply and they have unlimited

supplies of labour at cost

D. Transport cost depends upon weight of material and

distance

FACTORS INFLUENCING LOCATION OF PLANTS

1.Primary or regional factors

2.Secondary or agglomerative and deglomerative

PRIMARY FACTORS

These factors influence the location of plants over different regions.

Weber developed his theory on the basis of two regional factors:-

Transportation costLabour cost

Transportation cost

TRANSPORTATION

A plant tends to be located at a site where the total cost of transportation of materials and products is minimum

Wheat field Factory

Transport cost is dependent on 2 basis

The weight to be transported

Distance to be covered

Weber classified materials in 2 forms:-

Ubiquitous materials

Localized materials

Ubiquitous materials

These materials are present everywhere.

Example:- water, air etc

Localized materials

These materials are confined to a particular region.

Example:- iron, gold, cotton etc

Localized materials can be further divided into:-

Pure materials

Gross materials

Pure materials

Pure or non-weight loosing materials do not loose their weight in

the process of production.

Such materials do not pull plants to their place of deposits.

Example:- cotton, wool etc

Gross materials

Gross or weight-losing materials impart a small part or none of their weight to the

finished product.Such materials attract production towards

places of deposits .Example:-sugarcane farms, coal etc

Material index

On the basis of the above reasoning Weber developed a mathematical formula to measure the relative pull of materials while those with low materials and the

market on industrial location.

Material index=weight of localized material/weight of the finished goods

If material index > 1 then plant will be located near the resources .

If material index < 1 then plant will be located near to the market.

Labour costCost incurred to employee

workers

These costs directly effects the production of the firm.

Least transportation

cost

Resources Factory

A plant may deviate from the point of least transportation

cost when the savings in labour cost are greater than the additional cost of transportation at the new centre.

Isodapanes

Isodapanes represent points of equal transportation cost including assembling cost of materials and distribution cost of

finished product.

Critical Isodapane

It is a point where

Transportation cost = Labour cost

i.e. where both labour cost and transportation cost are minimum as compared to their total

cost any where else.

A point where both the costs are

minimum

Optimum place for a factory

resourcelabou

r

Labour costs depends upon:-

1. Labour cost per unit

It is measured by labour cost

index i.e. proportion of labour cost to the weight of the finished

product.

2. Locational weightIt is the weight to be transported during the

process of production.

To measure the attracting power of labour, Weber gave the following

formula:-

Labour Coefficient=labour cost index/ locational weight

Higher the labour coefficient , greater is the tendency for a plant

to be located near the centre of cheap labour supply.

Secondary FactorsSecondary factors lead to

concentration or dispersal of industries. They are;-

Agglomerative

Deglomerative

AgglomerativeAgglomerative factors are the external

economies which result from concentration of industries at a

particular place

Deglomerative

These are external diseconomies that causes geographical dispersal

of industry.

Index of manufacture

Index of manufacture = total manufacturing cost/locational weight

Critical appraisal of Weber’s theory

There are no fixed centre of consumptionTransportation rates are not uniform

Fixed centers with unlimited supply of labour is not true

Wrong Assumptions

Not empirically proved

Classification of raw materials is arbitrary

Complex mathematical coefficients

Conclusion

The endall feedbacks are welcome(specially the critical ones)