Examine why the impact of reindustrialisation is greater in some locations than in others, using examples at the regional and national scales.

Reindustrialisation has also led to the rapid growth of the quaternary, high-technology industry, however it is still only a small sector of the manufacturing world. High-technology refers to industries that have developed within the last 25 years and whose processing techniques often involve micro-electronics, but may include other highly sophisticated products such as medical instruments. These industries usually demand high inputs of information, expertise and research and development (R&D). They are also said to be footloose, and do not need to locate near raw materials, but can instead locate where the highly skilled scientists, engineers and technicians who are crucial to such and industry, are found. This does, therefore, mean that they are not entirely footloose and so they tend to agglomerate (cluster) around areas with skilled labour workforces. At a regional scale, the major concentration of high-tech industries in Britain is along the M4, extending westwards from London to Reading, Newbury, Bristol and into South Wales, otherwise known as the “M4 Corridor”. This region has proved so prosperous as a site for reindustrialisation attracting telecommunications firms, IT businesses and microelectronics. It has been so popular due to its location in close proximity to the M4, the M5 (well developed motorway networks), which has increased mobility and accessibility to the area, however it is in close proximity to universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge and Reading, which accommodate high-tech research and development plants and business parks, such as the Cambridge Science Park. These science parks are comprised mainly of agglomerations of small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) and R&D functions, which employ qualified students as they leave university, again having an impact on it and the surrounding area.

The impact of reindustrialisation is greater in some locations than in others due to the amount of inward investment by transnational corporations and small manufacturing enterprises into a particular area, but also due to the nature of the manufacturing industry there is. If the foreign direct investment is greater in one area as opposed to another, the impact is likely to be greater as it means that more jobs are being created and there is a higher productivity in the area. Such large investment also attracts other firms in the same sector, again creating jobs and further increasing productivity. This leads to rejuvenation of the old, industrial regions, i.e. Sunderland.

The nature of the manufacturing industry is likely to have an influence into how great the impact is, as high-tech industries tend to locate where other high-tech industries do (agglomeration or clustering in an area), which enables them to work off each other, but also firms locate where there is a highly skilled workforce (which is in demand) so employees do not have to travel far. Again this causes agglomeration which leads to an area being reindustrialised at a greater rate into a more prosperous location.