The Infrastructural Impact on the Swedish Wood Industry : Analysis of profitability, productivity, localization patterns and clustering

Sammanfattning: In this thesis, I have chosen to analyse the Swedish wood industry and how it has been developing during the last decades. The purpose is to analyse the infrastructural impact on the industrial location patterns and to see to what degree these locational changes can be observed in more or less favourable regions. Theoretically, all economic activity should take into consideration where to locate the production. This means that the firms should analyse both profits and costs and then consider if they are located in an economically efficient location. If they draw the conclusion from the analysis that their locational situation is not efficient, they should consider relocating production in order to gain higher productivity. In conclusion, the probability of a firm’s survival in the market, as well as sustaining a positive employment development, is higher in more favourable industrial locations. A more favourable industrial location is a location with a closer proximity to the market or in some cases close proximity to the raw materials used in production.