• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.183-198
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• 1997

This case study was conducted by verification the site characteristics based on the questionnaire and interview obtained from the all factories located at No. 1 developing area in Kumi industrial complex. The site characteristics were presumed from the process of location behavior and spatial linkage. Kumi industrial complex was developed to improve export industry at national levels by providing chief land price and benefiting various tax. Kumi industrial complex which enticed many factories is playing an important role in export industry in Korea. At beginning, the detention of large enterprises promoted the establishment of related small to medium sized factories into the complex. Two distinctive industries. textile and electronic, were reflected by the purpose to establish the complex and industrial characteristics of Taegu city. respectively. In Kumi industrial complex, positive responses on traffic and raw material supply and negative reactions on the environmental impact on social community as well as high labor charge were investigated. Especially the higher labor cost prevented to hire laborers effectively. In the linkages of spatial and raw material, most factories in the complex depended on the availability of out side the Kumi city. For the textile factories, the supply of raw material and parts were relied on Taegu and/or other cities, whereas in electronic factories purchased them mainly from other cities and partly from abroad. Although questionnaire and interview suggested it, most of the parts were supplied by a parts maturing companies on the complex to a few large enterprises. In the marketing linkage, textile factories revealed higher relation-ship with the foreign countries and sewing factories in Korea. On the other hand, electronic factories have strong relation-ships in the marketing linkage to the parts supplying companies in the complex or large-scale resembling companies in other cities. In the textile companies, the right for decision on purchasing raw materials and parts is belonging to the owner whereas mother enterprise usually have the right for the marketing. In the case of the electronic factories, all the purchasing activities are related to the sub-contracting companies. In the service linkage, the Quality of the service created spatial distinction. There was high linkages on inside of Kumi complex for the low grade services such as repairing and installing machines, whereas strong linkages on outside of the complex for the high grade services such as management, law, taxation, new product development. and manufacturing technology. In the linkages of activity on the R&D (research and development), electronic factories do not have sufficiently qualified institutes in the complex. Strong regional linkages in the field of textile and electronic industries revealed limitations of the local industrial complex. In the sub-contracting linkage, high linkage ship within Kumi boundary reflected the characteristics of industrial site in the complex. There, most decisions by the companies centered by the mother enterprise.