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Abstract
Illeris, Sven: Service og regional udvikling. Geografisk Tidsskrift 87: 27–36, København, juni 1987.
Based on a large number of West European studies, the paper examines whether service activities are likely to show geographical concentration or decentralisation. Many forces are influential, among them technological developments in transport and telecommunications. The forces pull in different directions, but there is a danger of increased concentration. Various policy measures are suggested, some of them to be carried out by local governments.
SUMMARY
The paper discusses the following questions: What forces determine the regional development of service activities? Will service employment concentrate or decentralize? How can the development be influenced?
Service activities form the only sector in the West European Anglo American countries, in which employment growth is possible. However, there are a number of factors which limit employment growth, especially in household services.
Two hypotheses are prevailing, concerning the future location of service employment. One stresses the structual component: Qualified jobs show higher growth rates than less qualified jobs, and will do so even more in future. Since they are overrepresented in big cities, this factor will pull towards geographical concentration.
The other hypothesis foresees that new technologies of transport and telecommunications will relax the constraint for service activities to locate near their customers and business connections. As regards standardized services which may be transmitted by telecommunications, the hypothesis is confirmed. As regards household services, the hypothesis is not confirmed: They will remain close to their customers. However, the location, the consumption per capita, and the composition of customers may change. As regards qualified information services, face-to-face meetings remain important. Due to air transport, distant partners may meet often, however, so agglomeration advantages are actually weakned.
It is stressed that when proximity constraints are relaxed, this may lead either to concentration or to decentralization, depending on the factors which then become decisive.
One group of such factors are human resources (capacities of innovation and new firm creation, labour with »social qualifications«, highly qualified staff). The supply of such factors shows a complicated geographical pattern, and may be influenced by improvement of education and by increased attraction of local environments.
Other factors are internal tendencies towards decreasing or increasing economies of scale or specialization, the two latter tendencies pulling towards geographical concentration.
Finally it is stressed that a close interaction between manufacturing industry and producer services is a condition for future economic development. An important policy issue is to stimulate this interaction, for instance through »middlemen« services. Although there are forces pulling in different directions, there is a clear danger of increased concentration of service employment, and countermeasures, partly carried out by local governments, are suggested.
