California Business Establishment Evolution and Transportation Provision

This research filled a gap in empirically supported knowledge linking the survival and economic success of business establishments to locational characteristics including access to transportation facilities. This relationship was studied for the entire State of California while controlling in a statistically robust way for a variety of factors influencing business life cycle events, such as closures, formation/birth, and relocation. Using panel data analysis methods and data spanning two decades, the external (local context, transportation network) and internal (business type, number of employees, age of the establishment) factors that influence the success and failure of business establishments were examined. Using panel analysis, manufacturing and retail business establishments were studied in particular illustrating differences and commonalities in event occurrence and the factors that impact these events.