A Firmographic Microsimulation Model of Small and Medium-Sized Business Establishments: Application to the City of Hamilton, Canada

Abstract

<p>Previous research on firmography microsimulation model for the City of Hamilton, Ontario, has been conducted by estimating several crucial statistical models, which would serve as the basis for an operational computer simulation model.</p> <p>Based on the previous research, this thesis illustrates the implementation of the firmography microsimulation model for the City of Hamilton. This implementation includes the development of separate computer modules for the survival submodel, the mobility submodel, the location choice submodel and the firm formation submodel, as well as the integration of all these submodels. Meanwhile, the data storage mechanism, the simulation results visualization and analysis functions have been implemented by the support of GIS technology.</p> <p>The microsimulation model starts with the 1990 firm micro data for the City of Hamilton as the base year and proceeds year by year with the simulation. The simulation results of firm distribution are validated by 1997 firm micro data for the City of Hamilton. The validation has proved that the developed firmography model is able to capture the overall trend of urban development processes in terms of firms at the micro level.</p> <p>The limitations of the current model, especially those caused by the requirement for detailed data, are discussed, and some directions for the future research are indicated.</p>