Publication Date
2026
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
James, Ryan
Second Advisor
Luo, Wei
Degree Name
Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
Legacy Department
Department of Geographic and Atmospheric Sciences
Abstract
To find out the impact of Internet on industrial location, we studied the spatial locations of the auto industry in the Yangtze River region of China pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Constructed in three separate papers, we first identified the cluster locations of the auto industry on the city level and analyzed the location factors, including the distance to the nearby industrial center constituted by major assemblers. Through the first paper we sketched the clustering patterns of the industry, including the locations of industrial centers and subcenters, and learned the impact of distance decay or distance threshold for the auto industry’s location in real world.
Then we mapped the major manufacturers’ organizational networks and social media networks, compared the network frameworks, and measured the distances between branches of the organization and between the focal companies and their social media partners. Through the second paper, we specified the network location patterns of auto firms, further clarified the distance decay or distance threshold on the firm level in real and virtual world by comparison.
In the last paper, based on a literature review, we generalized the manufacturing industries’ responses to the pandemic crisis through IT innovations and managerial upgrade, and speculated possible changes in regional industrial location, including suburbanization of small manufacturers and service providers, growth of industrial agglomerations in the logistic hubs and corridors and increase of high-tech manufacturers and innovation networks in urban centers. In relation to the IT innovations in manufacturing industries, we pointed out the challenges to industrial location studies and suggested updating methodology and topics with network analysis, behavioral theory, and agglomeration theory.
In conclusion, distance decay, agglomeration theory, Weber’s transportation cost rule and central place rule impacted the industrial location in the real world, but not in the cyber world, though online connections were highly related to the presence of organizational members. Social media networks were more hierarchical and polarized than organizational networks, but in the new media networks, there was also a decentralizing tendency.
Recommended Citation
Jin, Yiwei, "A Study on the Internet’s Impact on Industrial Location: Comparing the Spatial Locations of Industrial Cluster Organizational Network and Social Media Network" (2026). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 8212.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/8212
Extent
152 pages
Language
en
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
