The mental map of Dutch entrepreneurs. Changes in the subjective rating of locations in the Netherlands, 1983-1993-2003

Introduction

The central issue in neo-classical location theory is what the best place would be for a
firm from an ‘objective’ standpoint - that is, from an economic point of view. Much
attention is given to finding the optimum location for a plant, determined by spatial
differences in costs and revenues. In the neo-classical approach to firm behavior,
decision makers are considered to be fully informed and acting rationally. Actual
location decisions, however, are often based on incomplete and inaccurate information
about potential locations. Simon (1957) and Pred (1967) point out the limited
information that entrepreneurs have and their limited ability to use this information.
Decision makers seem to be guided by their subjective interpretation of reality, not so
much by reality itself, and because of this, a behavioral approach to location decisions
seems to be more appropriate than the neo-classical view.

In a study of firm migration in the northern part of the province of North Holland,
Pellenbarg (1977) found a large number of entrepreneurs who regretted their choice
afterwards. In many cases, the information that had played a role in the decision-making
process turned out to be incorrect. This finding, supporting the behavioral approach of
firm location decisions, has been the concrete impetus behind the investigation of the
subjective rating of locational environments by entrepreneurs, carried out by the authors
of the present paper. A survey in 1983 was the point of departure for a line of research
that has been followed at our Faculty ever since. Several reports about these studies
have been published (e.g. Pellenbarg & Meester 1984; Pellenbarg 1985; Meester 1994,
2000, 2004).

An important element in this line of research is a number of postal surveys of firms that
were carried out for various study areas, particularly the Netherlands, the northern
Netherlands, and Germany. These surveys were designed to measure the locational
preferences of entrepreneurs, and they were all set up in a similar fashion. The survey in
the Netherlands that was carried out in 1983, was followed by similar surveys in 1993
and 2003. The fact that the locational preferences of Dutch entrepreneurs have thus been
recorded in an identical manner three times, with ten year intervals, creates a unique
opportunity to study the development of locational preferences over a rather long period
of time.

In this paper, attention will be focused on the data collected by way of these three
surveys. In each case, the questionnaire essentially consisted of a map mentioning 70
locations in the Netherlands. Respondents were asked to rate each of these locations on

<<   1   2   3   4   5   >>

More intriguing information