Regional distribution of technology-intensive manufacturing industries in the Czech republic with an accent on risk of delocalisation

Abstract

The goal of this article is to determine whether low capital intensive firms, characterised by low productivity and low level of R&D activities that operate in technologically intensive branches of the Czech manufacturing industry, tend to be localised in economically lagging regions which are attractive for costs seeking FDI. We wanted to determine to the Czech regions that are more threatened by delocalisation of manufacturing activities. The assessment of companies' localisation stability is based on 3 economic indicators representing internal keep-factors of delocalisation - capital intensity, complexity of value chain, and sophistication of production processes. We did not confirm the hypothesis on concentration of footloose firms in economically lagging districts with high unemployment and accessibility of investment incentives. These firms, which are considered to be the most predisposed for delocalisation, are geographically dispersed. Localisation of technologically intensive branches corresponds neither to the settlement hierarchy nor to the economic performance of districts. Regional differences of indicators of localisation stability exhibit a strong path dependency effect.