Factors influencing business relocation
Cities are dynamic entities, constantly changing. Aside from resident relocation, businesses also move within and across city boundaries. A large-scale European research project funded by the Fifth Framework Programme attempted to improve our understanding of what drives these movements. Fifteen universities, governmental organisations and municipal authorities collaborated to create a comprehensive questionnaire that was administered to well over one thousand enterprises across the continent. The type and number of organisations polled per region was determined by market analysis. The results of the enquiry were entered into a database and, following quality assurance measures, analysed using advanced statistical tools. While relocation from the city centre to the suburbs was evident, it was not as dominant a trend as had been expected prior to the study. Movement within the same zone was most common while a small number of organisations actually moved from the outskirts into the inner city. The heart of the questionnaire aimed at identifying the factors influencing the enterprises' decision-making process when selecting a location. Interestingly, it was found that although factors varied somewhat by region and business sector, there were common threads. The most important criteria included available transport infrastructure, real estate prices and availability, customer access and the image and labour supply of the region. City planners, town councils, etc. can use this information to tailor their approach to attracting new businesses to their region. The hope is to stimulate a more holistic approach to exploiting limited space resources without negatively impacting the environment or living conditions for inner city inhabitants.
