Compare methods

	Weber Industrial Location Model	Location Quotient
Field	Human Geography	Economics
Family	Regression model	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1909	1960
Originator	Alfred Weber	Developed in regional science; codified by Walter Isard
Type	Least-cost theory of optimal industrial plant location	Descriptive index of relative regional concentration
Seminal source	Weber, A. (1929). Alfred Weber's Theory of the Location of Industries (C. J. Friedrich, Trans.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (Original work published 1909).	Isard, W. (1960). Methods of Regional Analysis: An Introduction to Regional Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262090032
Aliases	Weber Least-Cost Location Model, Location Triangle Model, Weberian Industrial Location Theory, Least-Cost Location Theory	LQ, Coefficient of Localization, Regional Specialization Ratio
Related	4	3
Summary	Weber's industrial location model is the classic least-cost theory of where a manufacturing plant should locate. Developed by Alfred Weber in 1909, it finds the site that minimizes total transport cost between the sources of raw materials and the market, then adjusts that site for savings in labour cost and for the benefits of clustering with other firms. The transport optimum is found at the Weber point of the location triangle, where the pulls of material sources and the market balance — the foundational model of industrial geography.	The location quotient (LQ) is a simple descriptive index that measures how concentrated an industry is in a region relative to a larger reference area, usually the nation. It is the ratio of the industry's share of local employment (or output) to its share of national employment. An LQ above one means the region is more specialized in that industry than the nation as a whole; an LQ below one means it is under-represented.