The role of linkage and location in Maltese export manufacturing

Abstract

The aim of this project was to identify patterns of linkage amongst the various firms making up the Maltese Export Manufacturing Sector, and to assess the effect of the firms' locational contexts (local, national, and international) and of land-use factors on the efficiency of their operation. The work of distinguished authors in the field of Industrial Geography was compiled and reviewed, and then juxtaposed against the Maltese industrial scenario as portrayed in recent reports on the sector. This exercise rendered a series of insights into the local scenario. Further understanding was sought through a questionnaire structured on the basis of the literature reviewed. This was administered on an appropriate number of Malta-based export manufacturing firms. The results gathered were analysed in the light of the academic material studied and the insights previously obtained, so that a set of observations on location and linkage effects and policy recommendations pertaining to Malta as an export manufacturing base could be presented.