Locational Analysis of Rural Industrial Estates and Chonbuk Economic Development Strategies

농공지구 입지분석 : 전라북도의 경우

This research examines the spatial development of rural industrial estates (Nong-gong Jigu) in Chonbuk province and gives insight into the strategies for economic development in the entire region. Selected location factors which are likely to pull new investment into the estates are examined by using questionnaires. Few loction factors except nonlocal factors can be found in explaining why location choices are made. The irrelevance of the analysis based on location factors suggests that an alternative approach should analyze changes in the spatial development of the rural industrial estates. Such an alternative is to understand the dynamics of the spatial organization of production by focusing on characteistics of plant closing in the rural industrial estates. To take into account of the characteristics of plant closing we provide the hypothesized relationships between employment size, organizational structure, inter and intra industrial linkage, characteristics of production processes, and availability of local labor market and the likelihood of closing. A logit model is then made to identify the selected factors which might influence the probability of plant closing. The results from the logit analysis and their implications suggest that the policy should be more concerned with the characteristics of firms, such as size and ownership, as well as of the local labor markets. Given that the Chonbuk region has experienced rapid population decline, together with its poor industrial base, it seems that the success of the policy in the declined rural areas in less certain.