What attracts high performance factories? Management culture and regional advantage

National data and case studies are used to test the importance of different types of management practices on the location decisions of new manufacturing plants. We find that plants that adopt high performance management practices and cultures rely on different criteria when making their location decisions, and also weigh standard location criteria differently, than those plants that are managed in more traditional ways. Omitting management culture from studies of business location may result in biased estimates of the importance of various traditional location factors. By more accurately specifying location models for manufacturing plants with high performance management cultures, this study provides some additional insights for regional development policy.