196 QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS variety of potential types of input that might be needed by the production unit are easily come by.In brief,the producer who sees a market for some new product in the United States may be led to select a United States location for production on the basis of national locational considerations which extend well beyond simple factor cost analysis plus transport considerations. THE MATURING PRODUCT 3 As the demand for a product expands,a certain degree of stand- ardization usually takes place.This is not to say that efforts at product differentiation come to an end.On the contrary;such ef- forts may even intensify,as competitors try to avoid the full brunt of price competition.Moreover,variety may appear as a result of specialization.Radios,for instance,ultimately acquired such specialized forms as clock radios,automobile radios,portable radios, and so on.Nevertheless,though the subcategories may multiply and the efforts at product differentiation increase,a growing ac- ceptance of certain general standards seems to be typical. Once again,the change has locational implications.First of all, the need for flexibility declines.A commitment to some set of prod- uct standards opens up technical possibilities for achieving econ- omies of scale through mass output,and encourages long-term com- mitments to some given process and some fixed set of facilities. Second,concern about production cost begins to take the place of concern about product characteristics.Even if increased price com- petition is not yet present,the reduction of the uncertainties sur- rounding the operation enhances the usefulness of cost projections and increases the attention devoted to cost. The empirical studies to which I referred earlier suggest that, at this stage in an industry's development,there is likely to be con- siderable shift in the location of production facilities at least as far as internal United States locations are concerned.The empirical materials on international locational shifts simply have not yet been analyzed sufficiently to tell us very much.A little speculation, however,indicates some hypotheses worth testing. Picture an industry engaged in the manufacture of the high- income or labor-saving products that are the focus of our discussion. Assume that the industry has begun to settle down in the United States to some degree of large-scale production.Although the first 3.Both Hirsch,op.cit.,and Freeman,op.cit.,make use of a three-stage product classification of the sort used here.196 QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS variety of potential types of input that might be needed by the production unit are easily come by. In brief, the producer who sees a market for some new product in the United States may be led to select a United States location for production on the basis of national locational considerations which extend well beyond simple factor cost analysis plus transport considerations. As the demand for a product expands, a certain degree of stand￾ardization usually takes place. This is not to say that efforts at product differentiation come to an end. On the contrary; such ef￾forts may even intensify, as competitors try to avoid the full brunt of price competition. Moreover, variety may appear as a result of specialization. Radios, for instance, ultimately acquired such specialized forms as clock radios, automobile radios, portable radios, and so on. Nevertheless, though the subcategories may multiply and the efforts at product differentiation increase, a growing ac￾ceptance of certain general standards seems to be typical. Once again, the change has locational implications. First of all, the need for flexibility declines. A commitment to some set of prod￾uct standards opens up technical possibilities for achieving econ￾omies of scale through mass output, and encourages long-term com￾mitments to some given process and some fixed set of facilities. Second, concern about production cost begins to take the place of concern about product characteristics. Even if increased price com￾petition is not yet present, the reduction of the uncertainties sur￾rounding the operation enhances the usefulness of cost projections and increases the attention devoted to cost. The empirical studies to which I referred earlier suggest that, at this stage in an industry's development, there is likely to be con￾siderable shift in the location of production facilities at least as far as internal United States locations are concerned. The empirical materials on international locational shifts simply have not yet been analyzed sufficiently to tell us very much. A little speculation, however, indicates some hypotheses worth testing. Picture an industry engaged in the manufacture of the high￾income or labor-saving products that are the focus of our discussion. Assume that the industry has begun to settle down in the United States to some degree of large-scale production. Although the first 3. Both Kirsch, op. cit., and Freeman, op. cit., make use of a three-stage product classification of the sort used here