Absolute location is expressed with reference to an arbitrary grid system as it appears on a map. Relative location is concerned with a feature as it relates to other features.
Transnational companies can move their production plants, and their call centres, with ease from place to place—from continent to continent indeed—at the slightest whiff of lower costs. ‘So, rather than erasing the importance of material location, it could well be argued that current trends in the world economy have in some senses reinforced its significance because as companies can move about more easily they can respond to even the smallest differences between places.’ Massey (2006) BBC/OU Open2.net.