Abstract
The author studied the mechanism of industrial communities through their formation and reorganization processes.
Through these investigations, it became clear that the industrial communities having a head-office enterprise were most likely to revive. The author selected the Ube mining-manufacturing region as the subject of investigation, because of its head-office enterprise.
This paper discusses the formation and reorganization of industrial communities, and attempts to pursue these factors. The term, “industrial community”, as used in this paper, signifies a regional manufacturing enterprise developed and functionally organized around diverse industrial activities.
Ube City is in Yamaguchi Prefecture. This city had a population of 175, 000 in 1986.
The results of the study are summarized as follows:
1. The Ube regional mining and manufacturing community was formed first by coal-mining industries. Although the coal-mining industries have collapsed, the accumulation of manufacturing industries originating from coal-mining industries was able to revive Ube. Today's main activities are chemical industries.
2. Both external and internal factors contributed to the formation of the industrial community. External factors were raw materials, a harbor, and the accumulation of mining and manufacturing industries. Internal factors were manpower resources, especially management, and administrative-technical personnel.
3. Management was the key to promoting coal-mining industries and to reviving the regional industry through manufacturing. Administrative-technical personnel assisted management with technical knowledge.
4. Management and administrative-technical personnel actually took the leadership of not only production but also of local administration, for it was important to the formation and the reorganization of industrial communities.
