Appraising Manufacturing Location

International location of manufacturing activities is an issue for managers of manufacturing companies as well as public policy makers. For managers, the issue is relevant because international locations offer opportunities for lowering costs due to productivity improvements. For governments the issue is important because it offers improvement of national income due to attracting manufacturing industries with high productivity. There are extensive theories to facilitate their decision making, which all require detailed data collection and extensive work. This paper proposes a quick appraisal instrument based on combining the in-depth knowledge of the managers or policy makers, using GDP as a measure of productivity and applying the concept of ‘island’ and ‘integrated’ industries.