Manufacturers use of business services
- West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States)
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
This paper summarized findings from a Colorado and Utah survey of manufacturing and business service establishments which provided information on the use of business services among different types of firms in this interior region of the United States. The paper provides information which helps to shed light on various areas of inquiry on the relationship between manufacturers and producer services, but certainly calls for additional investigation. Most of the findings are consistent with those found by studies in other areas. Manufacturers are not a major source of sales for business service firms and the availability of business services is not cited as an important location consideration for manufacturers. Given the strong mining and agricultural sectors in these states, the fact that so little trade was with the primary sector may have been surprising. However, most of the responses in the surveys were from the urban areas of Denver and Salt Lake City. One of the hypotheses in the literature, as defined by Perry and Goe, concerns whether the growth in business services and the decline in manufacturing employment is a result of the trend toward the use of contracted services by manufacturers. The aggregate results of the study do not provide much evidence to support the proposition that this occurs. However, the results show that the larger firms internalize certain specialized business services more so than the smaller firms. The greater use company-provided legal services by the larger manufacturers is a case in point. This finding is consistent with Scott`s finding in the printed circuits industry in which larger establishments provided more functions internally than did the smaller establishments. In the case of engineering, architectural, and business management services it appears that many smaller manufacturers do not use such services at all, but that the larger establishments have more needs for professional services.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 10196119
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/DIS/CP-81288; CONF-9204149-3; ON: DE94003784; TRN: 93:004752
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting,San Diego, CA (United States),21 Apr 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1992]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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