Organizational Dynamics of the U.S. Logistics Industry: The Impacts of Inter-Firm Networks, Technologies, and Globalization

尽管物流业为所有经济部门提供关键服务，但在经济地理学中，很少有研究试图了解该行业的组织动态。本研究的目的是了解物流业的组织动态。我们将重点关注以下被确定为特别重要的方面：信息技术的使用、全球贸易的加强以及不断变化的地理要求。我们结合了深入的实证调查，包括全国性的邮寄调查和对波士顿-华盛顿走廊的物流用户和供应商的半结构化访谈，并探索性地使用了基于代理的建模。该模型旨在推动研究超越轶事证据的收集，并提供对物流行业组织动态的结构化和系统性的理解。这项研究将通过考察在当代经济中发挥核心作用的行业的演变，丰富对技术和空间之间相互作用的理解。研究结果将提供鲜为人知的物流业新兴组织动态的方面，并为学者和政策制定者提供关于远程生产协调的理论和实践理解。

Although the logistics industry provides critical services to all sectors of the economy, few studies exist in Economic Geography that attempt to understand the organizational dynamics of this industry. The aim of this research is to understand the organizational dynamics of the logistics industry. We will focus on the following dimensions that are identified as particularly important: use of information technologies, intensifying global trade, and changing geographic requirements. We combine an in-depth empirical survey, comprised of a nationwide mail-in survey and semi-structured interviews of logistics users and providers in the Boston-Washington corridor, with an exploratory use of agent-based modeling. The model is designed to push the research beyond collection of anecdotal evidence and offer a structured and systematic understanding of organizational dynamics of the logistics industry. The study will enrich understanding of the interaction between technology and space through examining the evolution of an industry that plays a central role in the contemporary economy. Research results will provide little known aspects of the logistics industry's emerging organizational dynamics and inform academics and policy makers on the theoretical and practical understandings of the long-distance coordination of production.