An industry without grounds: Understanding the locational patterns of manufacturing firms in the city of Lima, Peru

We explore the locational characteristics of manufacturing firms in the city of Lima. For this we created a database of establishment locations of medium and large industrial establishments. Considering factors such as firm size, age, sector and global trade connections, we will explore where certain types of firms tend to locate. We elaborated on this information with a previous study and informational interviews. We show that while certain industrial firms are capable of moving to the outskirts of the city, others still need to locate in close proximity to city centres. We also explored whether new smaller firms need to locate in central areas, while larger firms tend to locate on areas where low land prices and good connectivity to Global Value Chains allow better performance. This argument however turned out harder to explore, given the limited information we gathered on truly small firms. The findings support a case for the protection and promotion of central industrial lands while also developing a theory for best practices in outskirt locations, taking into consideration that current solutions are being promoted by private investors rather than regional authorities.