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Alfred Weber (born July 30 1868 in Erfurt - died
May 2 1958 in Heidelberg) Germany|German
economist, sociologist and theoretician of
culture.

From 1907 to 1933 he was a professor at the
University of Heidelberg until his dismissal
following criticism of hitlerism.  He was
reinstated in 1945 and continued in the role until
1958.

Alfred Weber was a brother of Max Weber, an even
more influential sociologist.

Weber supported reintroducing theory and causal
models to the field of Economics|economy in
addition to historical analysis. In that field his
achievements involve the work on early models of
industrial location.

He lived during the period when sociology became a
separate field of science. Weber maintained a
commitment to the "philosophy of history"
traditions. To that field, he has contributed
theories for analyzing social change in Western
civilization as a confluence of civilization
(intellectual and technological), social processes
(organizations) and culture (art, religion, and
philosophy). He has conducted empirical and
historical analyses of the growth and geographical
distribution of cities and capitalism. 

Weber lived in Nazi Germany during the Second
World War, but was a leader in intellectual
resistance. After 1945 his writings and teaching
was influential both in and out of academic
circles in promoting a philosophical and political
recovery for the German people.

==Least Cost Theory==
Alfred Weber formulated a least cost theory of
industrial location which tries to explain and
predict the locational pattern of the industry at
a macro-scale. It emphasizes that firms seek a
site of minimum transport and labour cost. 
The point for locating an industry that minimizes
costs of transportation and labor requires
analysis of three factors: 

1. Material Index

The point of optimal transportation based on the
costs of distance to the "material index" - the
ratio of weight to intermediate products (raw
materials) to finished product. 

In one the weight of the final product is less
than the weight of the raw material going into
making the product, is the weight losing industry.
Such as the copper industry and it would be very
expensive to haul raw materials to the market for
processing, so that manufacturing occurs near the
raw materials. (Besides mining, other primary
activities (or extractive industries) are
considered material oriented; timber mills,
furniture manufacture, most agricultural
activities. Often located in rural areas, these
businesses may employ most of the population. As
they leave entire cities lose their economic
base.)

In the other the final product is heavier than the
raw materials that require transport. Usually this
is a case of some ubiquitous (available
everywhere) raw material such as water being
incorporated into the product. This is called the
weight-gaining industry.


2. Labor

The labor distortion, sources of lower cost labor
may justify greater than transport distances and
becomes the primary determinant in production.

A. UNSKILLED LABOR –industries such as the
garment industry require cheap unskilled labor to
complete activities are not mechanized. They are
often termed "ubiquitous" meaning they can be
found everywhere. Its pull is due to the
availability of low wages, little unionization and
young employees (few healthcare costs).

B. SKILLED LABOR - High tech firms, such as those
located in Silicon Valley, require exceptionally
skilled professionals. skilled labor is very
scarce and often difficult to find, high education
standard are often required.



3. Agglomeration and deglomeration

Agglomeration is a phenomenon of spatial
clustering or concentration of firms in a relative
small area. The clustering and linkages allow
individual firms to enjoy both internal and
external economies. Auxiliary industries,
specialized machines or services used only
occasionally by larger firms tend to locate in
agglomeration areas, not just to lower costs but
as necessity for finding sufficient customers.

Deglomeration occurs when companies and services
leave because of the diseconomies of industries’
excessive concentration. Firms can achieve
economies because of the increase in scale of
industrial activities benefited from
agglomeration. However, after reaching the optimal
size, local facilities may become over-taxed, lead
to an offset of initial advantages and increase in
PC. Then the force of agglomeration may eventually
be replaced by other forces which promote
deglomeration. (Diversification of an industry in
the horizontal relations between processes within
the plant.)

==Globalization==
Similarly, please remember that INDUSTRIAL
activity is considered a secondary economic
activity, and is also discussed as manufacturing. 
Industrial activity can be broken down further to
include the following activities: processing, the
creation of intermediate parts, final assembly.
Today with multi-national corporations, the three
activities listed above may occur outside MDCs. 

His theory does have validity in explaining some
of the causes for current movement, yet such
discussion would not come from Weber himself.

Weber found industrial activity the least cost to
produce. least cost location then implies
marketing the product at the least cost to the
consumer. Much like retailers, such as Walmart,
Target, and Costco, attempt to obtain large market
shares today. It is explained economically as one
way to make a profit, creating the cheapest
product for the consumer market would lead to
greater volume of sales and hence, greater
profits. Therefore, companies which did not take
the time to locate the cheapest inputs or the
largest markets, would go out of business since
their product would cost more to produce and cost
the consumer more at the market.

==List of works==
* History of Philosophy (by Alfred Weber)|History
of Philosophy 1908
* Ăśber den Standort der Industrie (Theory of the
Location of Industries) 1909
* Ideen zur Staats - und Kultursoziologie (1927)
* Kulturgeschichte als Kultursoziologie (1935)
* Farewell to European History... (1947)
* EinfĂĽhrung in die Soziologie (1955)

==See also==
*List of sociologists
*List of economists

==External links==

*http://www.class.uidaho.edu/mickelsen/ToC/Weber%2
0ToC.htm Partial ebook online of History of
Philosophy at University of Idaho, Department of
Philosophy
*http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/51
Biography at CSSS
*http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/weber.htm On
Alfred Weber's Theory of Industrial Location
*http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/450/weber.ht
ml Alfred Weber and Subsequent Developments in
Industrial Location Theory