The role of environmental regulatory implementation in business location decisions

A quantitative study, designed with input of an industry focus group, was used to investigate how the perception of environmental regulations and their implementation might impact business location decisions in central Virginia. A survey was sent to 471 corporate real estate decision makers compiled from a list of companies seeking site location information in 1997 and 1998 from two Virginia regional economic development organizations: Virginia's Gateway Region and the Greater Richmond Partnership. The survey contained questions about concepts perceived to impact site location decisions, the importance of environmental regulations and their administration, the influence of politics, the influence of the economy, the influence of the media, corporate philosophy and the level of risk the corporation was willing to accept.; The majority of respondents believed that they understood environmental regulations and felt that other business variables were more important than environmental regulations in the location decision. This research found that factors related to the labor force, transportation, access to markets, cost of doing business and quality of life were all considered more important in the location decision than environmental regulations. Statistically significant relationships were found between a corporation's philosophy, a person's understanding of environmental regulations and the corporation's attitude toward the importance of environmental regulations in the location decision. These findings support recent research that indicates environmental regulatory compliance is independent of business performance. Economic cluster analysis could provide a better explanation of corporate location decisions.