ABSTRACT
The growing economic importance of large business organizations has been a global trend during the present century. The spread of such organizations has contributed to the emergence of a distinctive geography of enterprise, as 'the geography of modern society is increasingly determined not by the actions of isolated individuals, but by the strategies of large organizations' (Chapman and Walker 1987:22). This geography of enterprise, or the enterprise approach, which was pioneered by McNee (1958, 1960) and followed by a number of others (see e.g. Krumme 1969; Hayter and Watts 1983), focuses on the spatial ramifications of decision-making within large firms. The geography of enterprise has been defined in a recent reappraisal as 'the study of the influence of the policies and structure of multiproduct, multiplant enterprises on changes in industrial location and on processes of regional economic develop ment' (Hayter and Watts 1983:157). This definition emphasizes the importance of the large enterprise as an agent of spatial change.
