中文（繁體）
中文（简体）
English
DSE Geography | Industrial Location and Manufacturing Relocation Tutor Prep Guide | Cost Comparison and Four Common Errors
Students can say near the raw material or near the market but cannot justify either, writing only that it is convenient. This lesson turns both sites into a cash figure with one freight calculation, then uses value to weight to explain why an electronics plant can locate almost anywhere.
Objectives — Students can (1) take 4 tonnes of raw material making 1 tonne of product at 6 per tonne-kilometre and show that a plant at the raw material pays 1200 in freight while a plant at the market pays 4800, a gap of 3600, so the industry is raw-material oriented; (2) use a value-to-weight ratio to show that one kilogram worth 2000 costs only 0.25 percent of its value to ship 1,000 kilometres, which makes location footloose; (3) use a wage of 200000 per worker per year and 100 workers totalling 20000000 to explain why assembly moved from Hong Kong to the Pearl River Delta.
01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)
If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.
| Skill | Quick check | Pass mark |
|---|---|---|
| Industry types | Give one heavy and one light industry | Steel and cement against electronics and textiles |
| Location factors | What is a location factor? Name three | Conditions affecting siting: transport, labour, land, market |
| Hong Kong restructuring | When did manufacturing employment start to fall? | From the 1980s, with services rising |
02 Lesson flow (60 minutes)
| Time | Stage | Tutor does | Student does |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-6 min | Prior knowledge check | Ask industry types, location factors, restructuring | Answer orally, errors on the board |
| 6-22 min | Act one: the freight calculation | Compare 1200 against 4800 | Compute both and decide the orientation |
| 22-38 min | Act two: value to weight | Use a light industry to show footloose siting | Compute freight as a share of value |
| 38-50 min | Act three: cost structure and relocation | Use 20000000 of wages to explain the move | Compare two regions cost by cost |
| 50-56 min | Question drill | One of each of four types, six minutes | Independent, then swap and mark |
| 56-60 min | Exit check | Collect three answers and go through them | Books closed |
03 Teaching script (read it out)
Scene 1: Act one: do the freight sum before saying near the raw material
Give a concrete case: 4 tonnes of ore make 1 tonne of steel, freight is 6 per tonne-kilometre, and the market is 200 kilometres away. Have students cost both sites.
At the raw material only the product moves: 1 times 6 times 200 equals 1200. At the market the raw material moves: 4 times 6 times 200 equals 4800. The gap is 3600, so the plant sits at the raw material. That converts a slogan into money.
Generalise: when processing loses weight, here keeping 25 percent so raw material is 80 percent of the tonnage moved, the industry is weight-losing or raw-material oriented. Steel, cement and sugar refining behave this way. If the product ends up heavier or bulkier, as with assembled furniture or bottled drinks, it is market oriented.
A third group is footloose: freight is too small a share to decide anything, so other factors choose the site. The one-line test: compare which side of the process is heavier to move. Misconception box: not every industry sits near its raw material, only the clearly weight-losing ones.
At the raw material only the product moves: 1 times 6 times 200 equals 1200. At the market the raw material moves: 4 times 6 times 200 equals 4800. The gap is 3600, so the plant sits at the raw material. That converts a slogan into money.
Generalise: when processing loses weight, here keeping 25 percent so raw material is 80 percent of the tonnage moved, the industry is weight-losing or raw-material oriented. Steel, cement and sugar refining behave this way. If the product ends up heavier or bulkier, as with assembled furniture or bottled drinks, it is market oriented.
A third group is footloose: freight is too small a share to decide anything, so other factors choose the site. The one-line test: compare which side of the process is heavier to move. Misconception box: not every industry sits near its raw material, only the clearly weight-losing ones.
Students restate: weight-losing goes to the raw material, weight-gaining goes to the market, compare what is heavy to move.
Scene 2: Act two: the smaller freight is as a share of value, the freer the location
Change the angle: consider value instead of mass. One kilogram of product worth 2000, shipped 1,000 kilometres at 5 per kilogram, costs only 0.25 percent of its value. That is small enough to ignore, which is what footloose means.
Line up the three groups: steel has a low value-to-weight ratio and heavy freight, so it must sit at the raw material or the market; electronic components have an extremely high ratio and can even fly, so they chase skilled engineers and intellectual property protection; garments sit in between, which is why they first followed the market and then chased cheap labour.
Real siting is never one factor but the lowest total cost. Have students build a five-row table, transport, labour, land, capital and government policy, and mark each row as decisive or not for the case. Counting ticks gets closer to the comparison examiners want than reciting five factors.
Close with a trap question: why can a chip plant be built where water is scarce? The answer is that high value makes freight irrelevant, but water and power still constrain it, so location is not completely free. That question stops students from treating footloose as no constraints at all.
Line up the three groups: steel has a low value-to-weight ratio and heavy freight, so it must sit at the raw material or the market; electronic components have an extremely high ratio and can even fly, so they chase skilled engineers and intellectual property protection; garments sit in between, which is why they first followed the market and then chased cheap labour.
Real siting is never one factor but the lowest total cost. Have students build a five-row table, transport, labour, land, capital and government policy, and mark each row as decisive or not for the case. Counting ticks gets closer to the comparison examiners want than reciting five factors.
Close with a trap question: why can a chip plant be built where water is scarce? The answer is that high value makes freight irrelevant, but water and power still constrain it, so location is not completely free. That question stops students from treating footloose as no constraints at all.
Students restate: the lower freight is as a share of value, the freer the site, but utilities and skills still bind.
Scene 3: Act three: when wages rise, factories move
Run the numbers: 800 per worker per day, 250 working days, 100 workers, so wages total 20000000 a year. That is a fixed block of cost, which is why labour-intensive industry is so sensitive to wages. In the 1980s Hong Kong wages and land prices rose, assembly moved across the border, and Hong Kong kept the orders, design and finance. That arrangement is the shop in front, factory behind model.
Be precise about what moved: not the company but the production stage, because that stage was labour intensive while order taking and financing stayed in Hong Kong. Students often answer that Hong Kong industry disappeared, when in fact stages relocated and headquarters remained.
Give both sides of the ledger: the Delta gained jobs and technology but paid in pollution and land; Hong Kong gained cheap production and service jobs but lost entry-level manufacturing and narrowed its industrial base. One sentence captures it: the same relocation is a gain for one place and a loss for the other.
Bring it to the present: some stages have returned or moved to Southeast Asia as mainland wages rose and trade conditions changed, which proves location is recalculated rather than fixed. Ask where they would move if wages doubled, and require a cost-structure answer rather than a feeling.
Be precise about what moved: not the company but the production stage, because that stage was labour intensive while order taking and financing stayed in Hong Kong. Students often answer that Hong Kong industry disappeared, when in fact stages relocated and headquarters remained.
Give both sides of the ledger: the Delta gained jobs and technology but paid in pollution and land; Hong Kong gained cheap production and service jobs but lost entry-level manufacturing and narrowed its industrial base. One sentence captures it: the same relocation is a gain for one place and a loss for the other.
Bring it to the present: some stages have returned or moved to Southeast Asia as mainland wages rose and trade conditions changed, which proves location is recalculated rather than fixed. Ask where they would move if wages doubled, and require a cost-structure answer rather than a feeling.
Students restate: the stage moves not the company, labour-intensive is most sensitive, location is recalculated.
04 Question types and worked steps
| Type | Example | Steps | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compare sites | 4 tonnes to 1 tonne: cost both sites | 1 compute freight each, 2 compare the gap, 3 name the orientation | 1200 at the raw material, so raw-material oriented |
| Value to weight | One kilogram worth 2000 shipped 1,000 kilometres | 1 compute freight, 2 divide by value, 3 judge freedom | 0.25 percent, footloose |
| Labour cost | 100 workers at 800 a day for 250 days | 1 multiply days, 2 multiply workers, 3 compare with other costs | 20000000 a year |
| Relocation | Why Hong Kong assembly moved to the Delta | 1 find the push, 2 find the pull, 3 state both outcomes | Wages and land push, low costs pull, stages move and headquarters stay |
Sanity check (teach this): Sanity check: the freight gap must match the direction. If the market site came out cheaper, recheck which leg carries the heavy load (4 tonnes against 1). Proportion check: freight at 0.25 percent of value must be far below ten percent; thirty percent means grams were confused with kilograms. Order-of-magnitude check: 100 workers cost 20000000 a year, or 200000 each, which must equal the daily wage times working days. Finally, a location answer that lists one factor without saying which cost dominates earns little credit.
05 Independent practice (3 questions)
| Question | Answer | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| 4 tonnes of raw material make 1 tonne at 6 per tonne-kilometre, market 200 kilometres away: cost both sites and name the orientation. | 1200 at the raw material against 4800 at the market, a gap of 3600, raw-material oriented | Correct leg identified as the heavy one |
| One kilogram worth 2000 shipped at 5 per kilogram over 1,000 kilometres: freight as a share of value, and why siting is free. | 0.25 percent, freight is negligible so skills and infrastructure decide | Grams converted to kilograms |
| 100 workers at 800 a day for 250 days: annual wage bill, and why labour-intensive industry relocates. | 20000000; rising wages raise total cost directly, so production moves to cheaper labour | Days and workers both multiplied |
06 Common mistakes and what to say
| Mistake | Student writes | Say this |
|---|---|---|
| Writing only convenient | Answers that the site is near the raw material because it is convenient | Name the cost that dominates; here freight differs by 3600, so quote the number. |
| Assuming all industry is raw-material oriented | Calls an electronics plant raw-material oriented | High value makes freight negligible, so it is footloose. |
| Treating relocation as closure | Answers that Hong Kong industry vanished | Production stages moved while ordering and finance stayed, the shop-front factory-behind model. |
| Mixing units | Treats 2000 grams as 2000 kilograms | Grams and kilograms differ a thousandfold, and the freight ratio is off by the same factor. |
07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)
- Redo this chapter — All three practice questions (1-4) with full working and units
- Geography subject index — Open the industry and economic activity chapter and do question 2, comparing two sites
- Build a cost table — Pick a factory still operating in Hong Kong, list five location factors and mark the decisive one
08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)
| Question | Answer | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| 4 tonnes make 1 tonne: raw material or market | Raw material, because the heavy load is the input | Market means repeat act one |
| Freight at 0.25 percent of value means what | Footloose: freight barely affects the decision | Wrong means repeat act two |
| What moved when assembly left Hong Kong | Production stages, while headquarters and orders stayed | Answering the whole company means repeat act three |
09 Tutor FAQ
Why are steel plants often coastal or near mines?
Both ore and fuel are heavy, so sitting at one end cuts total tonnage moved.
Does footloose mean no constraints?
No: power, water, skills and regulation still bind, transport simply stops being decisive.
Is relocation always harmful?
Jobs are lost in the short run but costs fall and services grow; the outcome depends on upgrading.
Find a tutor — freeTutor Registration →
A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.