Agglomeration and Linkage System of the Machinery Industry in the Kitakami Area, Iwate Prefecture

Abstract

It has been proposed that the Kitakami area, Northeastern Japan, is a newly developed core of the machinery industry in the peripheral Japan. However, there is little statistical evidence about it. The purpose of this study is to examine the rise of the Kitakami area as a new industrial district with using aggregate data on inter-firm linkages based on the Supplier Directory by the Iwate Public Corporation for Promotion of SMEs. Therefore, this paper elucidated spatial range, internal structure and external relations of the industrial area. The results are summarized as follows : 1. It is identified that distinct industrial agglomeration exists in the area, judging from the density of intra-regional input-output linkages (Figures 1 and 2). The boundary of the industrial agglomeration almost corresponds to the 'Kitakami Valley Technopolis' in locational policy of the state, i.e. Kitakami City, Hanamaki City, Mizusawa City, Esashi City, Kanegasaki Town and Ezuriko Village. 2. As to internal structure of the area, many suppliers accept basic metal works as common technological bases for many downstream makers located in the area. It presents complex linkages rather than subcontracting pyramids with vertical-near-integration (Figure 3). 3. The development of the Kitakami area involves new aspects of regional division of labor. The machinery firms in the Kitakami area not only contract with metropolitan firms for final goods and parts, and depend on firms in the surrounding area for labor-intensive processes, but also accepts orders of basic metal works (machining, stamp, die, mold and sheet metal work) from the Northeastern Japan (Figure 6). In other wards, the Kitakami are aplays an important part in the Japanese machinery production system as a 'regional center of basic metal works'.