Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Geography

Major Professor

Charles S. Aiken

Committee Members

Thomas L. Bell, Leonard W. Brinkman Jr.

Abstract

Nonmetropolitan communities often orient development efforts around the attraction and retention of manufacturing employment. Manufacturing location has typically been explored using traditional methodologies, which focus on regional location factors. However, it is extremely difficult for nonmetropolitan communities to alter regional factors, and consequently, they focus their attention on the development of their local community infrastructure. For accurate interpretation and description of manufacturing location it is imperative that both manufacturing and community description be included. This study examines the communities of Appalachian Tennessee with a comprehensive methodology that measures manufacturing not as an absolute, but as a component of the overall community, over a 34 year continuum. A principal component analysis is performed on seven data sets that contain fifty six community description variables. Five summary community components are produced. These descriptors are used as predictors for five measures of manufacturing location in stepwise multiple regression models for eight observation years. The resultant model fit and component trends mirror both national and Appalachian manufacturing developments. The regression residuals are clustered into three groups and examined. Changes in the manufacturing sector are identified on a county by county basis. The analysis specifically targets changes in nonmetropolitan manufacturing. Shifts in local developments are illustrated and the symbiotic nature of metropolitan centers and their adjacent communities is demonstrated. Two case studies, Greene and McMinn Counties, are identified as Appalachian Tennessee's premiere nonmetropolitan communities. Both communities have maintained their manufacturing sectors through the creation of economic development agencies, the hiring of experienced industrial recruiters, and the construction of new industrial parks and facilities. Despite shifts in the national economy toward information technologies and globalization these communities illustrate that many nonmetropolitan communities remain committed to the development of their manufacturing bases as the primary means of sustaining their economies.

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