Discuss the major trends of modern industrial activities especially in the developed countries of the world.

Changes in the modern industrial activities and its spatial distribution can be understood better in the context of the development process as observed by W. Alonso as he talked of Five Bell Shapes in development. Several features move in the same direction during the period of development process. These features are:

(i)     The economic growth rate.

(ii)    The level of spatial inequality.

(iii)   The level of regional inequality.

(iv)    The level of geographical concentration.

(v)    The population growth.

These are inter connected. The structure and form of industries changes with the progress of economy and scientific and technological advancements. For example the textile industry in U.K. witnessed constant growth up to first half of 20th century. The industry declined with the shift of whole textile industry to less developed countries like India where labour costs were low.

The developed countries like Germany, U.S.A. and France setting up industries with sophisticated parts and the labour intensive units with low technology are being shifted towards the less developed nations. For example in earlier days Germany developed iron and steel industry by importing iron from Brazil. Now Brazil might make steel and Germany would import steel and work these into engineering products such as cars, computers etc.

In other change is noticed in terms of large factories giving way to smaller units dispersed over large areas and employing several thousands of people.