A study on the industrial agglomeration structure of four cities in the Tohoku region and the value of shipment of industrial products using statistical methods

This study statistically examined the industrial cluster structure of four cities in the Tohoku region (Yonezawa, Koriyama, Iwaki, and Aizuwakamatsu) in terms of the relationship between each industry and the total value of industrial manufactured goods shipped. Industrial statistics were obtained from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) website, and statistical analysis was performed using Excel. The correlation coefficients and regression coefficients of the regression lines between the value of manufactured goods shipments of each industry and the total value of industrial manufactured goods shipments revealed the following. The industry sector for which the correlation coefficient between total industrial manufactured product shipments and the value of manufactured product shipments for each industry sector in the four cities in the Tohoku region (Koriyama City before 2000 and Aizu Wakamatsu City before 2006) exceeded 0.9 was the electronics, information and communications industry. It was then found that the regression coefficients between the total value of industrial manufactured product shipments and the value of shipments of information and telecommunications and electrical machinery and equipment, where the correlation coefficient exceeded 0.9, represented the percentage of the total value of shipments. The ratio of the value of shipments of information and telecommunications and electrical machinery and equipment to the total value of shipments in Yonezawa City and Aizu Wakamatsu City before 2006 was as high as over 50 %, compared to around 30 % in Koriyama City and Iwaki City, while the ratio in Yonezawa City was extremely high at 70 %. On the other hand, when the correlation coefficient is less than 0.8, the regression coefficient does not necessarily represent the share of total value of shipments, but the industry is less affected by the trend of total value of industrial manufactured goods shipments in the industrial cluster structure. These results are considered to provide important suggestions for considering the reconstruction of the industrial agglomeration structure of the region using the value of industrial manufactured goods shipments as an indicator.