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Location Analysis of Business and Professional Services in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1977-92 Author: Hongmian Gong Dissertation School: University of Georgia Pages: 189 Publication Date: January 1997 Availability: Access Number: 8192 Abstract: This dissertation has two goals. One is to contribute to the development of a location theory for business and professional services. The other is to identify strategies for economic transformation of American central cities from manufacturing to services. To reach these two goals, the location, changes, location determinants, and change process of business and professional services are investigated at intrametropolitan level as well as intermetropolitan level. The research found that the larger the population size of a metropolitan area, the higher the concentration of business and professional services in the metropolitan area, and the lower the central-city share in business and professional services within the metropolitan area. Most, if not all, of the 12 sectors in business and professional services experienced proportional suburbanization, but at various speeds. Highly qualified labor is a very important location determinant of business and professional services at both the intrametropolitan and hierarchical levels. The research also verified the influence of flexible labor at the intrametropolitan level and of corporate headquarters at the hierarchial level on the location decision-making of business and professional services. Business and professional services centralize and decentralize in a spatial pattern within metropolitan areas and in a hierarchial pattern along the metropolitan areas and in a hierarchial pattern along the metropolitan hierarchy. In many ways the location characteristics of business and professional services are similar to those of manufacturing of consumer services, but could not be fully explained by either industrial location theory or central place theory. A new location theory is needed to explain the intermediate location characteristics of business and professional services. The findings in this research lead to six conclusions that have policy implications for economic dynamics of American central cities. |
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