Plant closure is one way in which a multi-locational firm can restructure the spatial organisation of its production system. In many cases, a firm has to select for closure one of a number of plants undertaking similar activities in different urban areas. This investigation draws upon some new data derived from face-to-face interviews with managers of a sample of large UK firms. The study outlines some of the key characteristics of the closure decision itself and illustrates the sensitivity of analyses of plant closures to both the time-period of the investigation and to the corporate context in which the closure decision is taken. Organisational structure, corporate geography and the market position of a firm all affect the outcome of the analysis.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alderman, N. (1996) Innovation and survival amongst mature establishments in the mechanical engineering industry, Geoforum, 27, pp. 461-477.
2.
Bluestone, B. and Harrison, B. (1982) The Deindustrialisation of America. New York: Basic Books.
3.
Central Statistical Office (1995) Report on the Census of Production 1992. Business Monitor PA1002. London: HMSO.
4.
Clark, G.L. (1994) Strategy and structure: corporate restructuring and the scope and characteristics of sunk costs, Environment and Planning A, 26, pp. 9-32.
5.
Clark, G.L. and Wrigley, N. (1995) Sunk costs: a framework for economic geography , Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, NS , 20, pp. 204-223.
6.
Cooper, M.J. (1975) The Industrial Location Decision-making Process . University of Birmingham: Centre for Urban and Regional Studies.
7.
Cyert, R. and March, J.G. (1963) The Behavioral Theory of the Firm, 1st edn. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
8.
Fothergill, S. and Guy, N. (1990) Retreat from the Regions: Corporate Change and the Closure of Factories. London: Jessica Kingsley.
9.
Howland, M. (1988) Plant closure and local economic conditions, Regional Studies, 22, pp. 193-207.
10.
Kirkiiam, J.D. and Watts, H.D. (1997) The influence of plant profitability on plant closures in multi-locational firms, Growth and Change, 28, pp. 431-446.
11.
Laulajainen, R. and Stafford, H.A. (1995) Corporate Geography: Business Location Principles and Cases. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. s.
12.
Le Heron, R. (1992) Goodman Fielder Wattie: good food world-wide? Internationalisation and performance, in: M. De Smidt and E. Wever (Eds) The Corporate Firm in the Changing World Economy, pp. 100-119. London: Routledge.
13.
Machin, S. (1995) Plant closures and unionisation in British establishments , British Journal of Industrial Relations, 33, pp. 55-68.
14.
Maclachlan, I. (1992) Plant closure and market dynamics: competitive strategy and rationalisation, Economic Geography, 68, pp. 128-145.
15.
Markusen, A. (1993) Trade as a regional development issue: policies for job and community preservation, in: H. Noponen, J. Graham and A. R. Markusen (Eds) Trading Industries, Trading Regions, pp. 285-302. New York: The Guilford Press.
16.
Martin, R., Sunley, P. and Wills, J. (1994) Unions and the politics of deindustrialisation: some comments on how geography complicates class analysis, Antipode, 26, pp. 59-76.
17.
Massey, D. and Meegan, R. (1982) The Anatomy of Job Loss. London : Methuen.
18.
Millward, N. (1993) Uses of the workplace industrial relations surveys by British labour economists. Discussion Paper 145, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics.
19.
Moyes, A. (1993) Corporate behaviour and locational change in the UK cement industry, Geography, 78, pp. 295-306.
20.
O'Farrell, P.N. (1976) An analysis of industrial closures: Irish experience, 1960-1973, Regional Studies, 10, pp. 433-448.
21.
O'Farrell, P.N. and Crouchley, R. (1983) Industrial closures in Ireland, 1973-1981: analysis and implications, Regional Studies, 17, pp. 411-428.
22.
Phelps, N. (1997) Multinationals and European Integration. London: Jessica Kingsley.
23.
Portz, J. (1990) The Politics of Closings. Lawrence : University Press of Kansas.
24.
Scott, A.J. and Storper, M. (1992) Industrialisation and regional development, in: M. Stopper and A. J. Scott (Eds) Pathways to Industrialisation and Regional Development, pp. 3-17. London: Routledge .
25.
Simon, H.A. (1955) A behavioural model of rational choice, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69, pp. 99-118.
26.
Stafford, H.A. (1972) The geography of manufacturers, Progress in Human Geography, 4, pp. 181-216.
27.
Stafford, H.A. (1974) The anatomy of a location decision: content analysis of case studies, in: F. E. I. Hamilton (Ed.) Spatial Perspectives on Industrial Organisation and Decision-Making , pp. 169-188. London: Wiley.
28.
Stafford, H.A. (1991) Manufacturing plant closure selections within firms , Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81, pp. 51-65.
29.
Stafford, H.A. and Watts, H.D. (1990) Abandoned products, abandoned places: plant closures by multi-product, multi-locational firms in urban areas, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 81, pp. 162-169.
30.
Stafford, H.A. and Watts, H.D. (1991) Local environments and plant closures by multi-locational firms: a cross-cultural analysis, Regional Studies, 25, pp. 427-438.
31.
Taylor, M.J. and Thrift, N. (1983) Business organisation, segmentation and location , Regional Studies, 17, pp. 445-465.
32.
Townroe, P.M. (1971) Industrial Location Decisions: a Study of Management Behaviour. Birmingham: Centre for Urban and Regional Studies.
33.
Walker, S. (1992) Branch plant closures in the west of Ireland, Irish Geography, 25, pp. 54-66.
34.
Watts, H.D. (1991a) Understanding plant closures: the UK brewing industry , Geography, 76, pp. 315-330.
35.
Watts, H.D. (1991b) Plant closures, multi-locational firms and the urban economy: Sheffield, UK, Environment and Planning A, 23, pp. 37-58.
36.
Watts, H.D. (1991c) Plant closures in urban areas: towards a local policy response, UrbanStudies, 28, pp. 803-817.
37.
Watts, H.D. and Stafford, H.A. (1986) Plant closures and the multi-plant firm: some conceptual issues, Progress in Human Geography, 10, pp. 206-227.
38.
Westhead, P. (1988) Manufacturing closures in Wales, 1980-84: a route to new firm formation, Cambria, 15, pp. 11-36.
39.
Westhead, P. and Birley, S. (1994) Environments for business deregulation in the UK , Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 6, pp. 29-62.
