Many developing countries have relied quite heavily on the policy of industrial decentralization to uplift the lagging economies of their peripheral regions. In Malaysia, the MIDA plays a major role in persuading foreign enterprises to locate in the periphery. In addition to MIDA, there are plethora of state agencies which implement state industrial policy. Development officials in their effort to attract more industries to their respective regions, work on the premise that certain locational factors are critical to investors locational decision-making process. Obviously development officials have their own perceptions of the attractions and disadvantages of the periphery. This paper examines whether the officials have a good gasp of the industrialist dominant motives for selecting Kedah as production location and discusses the implications for industrial development in officials assumptions do not occur with industrialists real reasons for selecting Kedah.