Question

Industrial location theory is a brain child of ___________________.
A) Taylor
B) Febver
C) Ratzel
D) Weber

Answer 1

Hint: When we speak of industrial location we mean the geographical site or sites that are selected by a firm/ company or business to perform its economic activities or functions. Choosing a location is a very important factor for a business as the location does affect the price, cost and activities of the business. The location theory is basically a mixture of geographical and economical factors that affect firms, companies etc.

Complete answer:
The industrial location theory states that an industry is located in the area where the transportation costs of materials and final product is minimal.

Now let us look into the given options:
A) Taylor – he gave theories like – Taylor’s motivation theory or the scientific management approach etc.
B) Febver – he is best known for the role he played in the establishment of the Annales School of history.
C) Ratzel – he had given the organic state theory in the nineteenth century, he was a German geographer and ethnographer.
D) Weber – he had given the industrial location theory which is a mixture of economical & geographical factors.

Alfered Weber was a German economist, geographer, sociologist and theoretician of culture. He has given many theories in the different fields; his work has been very influential in the development of modern economic geography.

Weber gave the industrial location theory, Location theory is concerned with the geographic location of economic activity; it has become an integral part of economic geography, regional science, and spatial economics.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘D’.

Note: The Location theory addresses the questions of what economic activities are located where and why. It takes two elements for determining the cost of transportation namely weight and distance and not the type of transport, quality of goods to be transported, topography, character of region etc.