International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue IX, September 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
Ogbu, S. Okonkwo
Department of Geography and Meteorology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences,
Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Enugu, Nigeria.
Abstract: This study on importance of market in the location of industries determined the relative contribution of market facilities in the locations of industrial plants at the 9th Mile area of Enugu State, Nigeria. Survey research design was involved and field data were obtained using the methods of questionnaire, guided interview, documentary materials, and field observations. The statistical techniques used in the analyses of the field data were; Percentage contributions and graphs (pie, and bar graphs), the weights of raw material inputs per month/year were compared with the weights of the products per month/year using Weber’s Material Index (M.I.) method, standardised matrix score, and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) analytical technique which was used to identify the level of significance of the market contributions in the locations of the industrial plants in the study area. The results of the analyses reveal that market facilities contributed in the location decisions of 28 (87.5%) of the 32 studied industrial plants in the area in which 17 and 11 industrial plants indicated that it is 1st and 2nd order factors in their locations in the study area respectively. Only 4 (12.5%) industrial plants did not consider market as an important variable in their decision to locate in the area. With frequency score of 28 (8.8%), it obtained 2nd position among the 23 identified factors in the locations of the studied 32 industrial plants in the area. The result of MLR analyses showed that market facilities contributed significantly (0.042) in the locations of the 32 sampled industrial plants in the area. In this regard, it is recommended for entrepreneurs to have eyes in the market facilities in their location decisions. Also, industries should be attracted in the study area as a result of the influx and the available industrial resources in the area.
Keywords: Location, relative position, industrial plants, market facilities
I. INTRODUCTION
Industry is an important segment of the economy, the collapse of which will result in the collapse of the economy (Sloagett and Wood, 2005; and Ogbu, 2014). It improves trade balance because home-grown products substitute imports, thus saving valuable foreign exchange (Ekholm, 2003), and the more the foreign exchange earned the better for the nation (Gates, 2006). Industry generates benefits such as the creation of wealth via the multiplier effect, prosperity, employment and is a vital component in foreign trade. Industrial activities can operate and export to gain more foreign exchange that structurally diversifies the economy, which grows faster and becomes more resilient. It is one of the processes of spatial transformation especially with migration and information flows. There has been traditionally wide support for the leading role of manufacturing in