Business locating in the midland will also provide employment for the local population this will also increase economic growth because people will have more money to spend which will be put back into the local economy when it is spent on consumer durables which means demand will increase for products. In which case more people will be employed which means more people will have money creating a multiplier effect. However this depends on how much money stays in the local economy.
It also has to be considered that business locating in the midlands will require people who are skilled which may lead to educational institutions being developed to teach specific industry related skills and developing technology. This will add value to the region and give people more opportunity improving their quality of life. This can help future generations who are more likely to be educated which will help maintain the development of industry in the midlands. A better trained local population in a local area experiencing economic growth will also attract other businesses to locate in the midlands which will also help the growth of the region which will maintain higher standards of living brought about from increased education, good infrastructure and increased business activity.
However it is possible business clusters in the midlands will become a threat to sustainable development because firstly the main aim for the majority of businesses is to maximise profit. This can be achieved by minimising private costs therefore business won’t be bothered about preserving the environment and helping the community because it is an added cost. Therefore the businesses operations may have a negative effect, which could prevent the development the business clusters have enabled to occur from being preserved. On the other hand it can be argued that Firms will be ethical because the decisions on their operations are not just influenced by the aim to be profitable, they also face pressure by the government in the form of tax, pressure groups which can influence public opinion, and other shareholders such as consumers and shareholders.
It also has to be taken into account that there is a clear link between economic growth and pollution. The cluster of businesses will produce products, which will need to be distributed to other areas as well as materials that will need to be delivered to the firms situated in the businesses. Employees will also have to commute to and from work. This will require the use of transport in the local community that will increase congestion and carbon dioxide levels leading to long term damage to the environment and health of the local community. However the labour government are trying to reduce the amount of pollution using road pricing and developed the proposal for transport 2000. And in relation to the argument about transporting materials and products to and from the area it can be argued that the products won’t need to be transported far as clusters may be linked with all parts of the supply chain of a product being located in the same area.
Another threat the cluster of business may present to sustained development is that they will use up the majority of the regions limited resources which means future generations will not have access to these resources such as steel and Iron. However the business may try to use resources efficiently together rather than wasting resources.
It is clear that a business cluster of related partnerships can help achieve sustainable development but its operations can also prevent the development from being maintained if it acts unethically. However it could be argued that businesses have responsibility to help sustain development in the communities where it operates by acting socially responsible as it has a detrimental effect on the quality of life of its stakeholders and the environment the business operates in. However the amount of responsibility the business has to account for depends on the laws created by the government to protect the environment and the actions consumers and pressure groups take to influence firms act responsibly.