Spatial Analysis of Forests Products Manufacturer Clusters in Louisiana

The forest products (FP) industry is the most important segment of the agricultural sector in the state of Louisiana with regard to farm gate value and added value. According to Michael Porter, the FP industry has cluster characteristics concentrating in geographic areas due to competitive advantages. This analysis explores the spatial distribution of Primary and Secondary FP manufacturers in Louisiana in order to identify spatial clusters and model industry frequencies as a function of socio-economic variables. Forest Products industry, socio-economic, and geographic data were obtained from the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center and the U.S. Census Bureau. Results suggest that Primary FP companies show a higher spatial dependency compared to Secondary FP manufacturers as well as evidence of clustering of Secondary FP manufacturers. Regression analysis shows that total population is the variable most significantly correlated to clustering of Secondary FP manufacturers