Firms and jobs in producer services are often part of the target in some urban and regional policies. Although metropolitan areas (and the small core region within them) have long been the focus for these activities, there has been research to show that they can operate from smaller cities and indeed remote locations. This paper explores whether this outcome is likely for logistics services. Though these too have been seen as anchored to transport infrastructure, the research here shows that logistics services associated with supply chain management have weaker ties to the major transport centres. Jobs in this activity have been expanding recently. Taken together, these aspects suggest that urban and regional policy could begin to target logistics services as a way of attracting higher firms and jobs. For smaller cities that effort will be more effective where there is established road, rail or airport infrastructure. JEL classification: R58, R40, O32

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In this paper the input, sales, and subcontracting linkages for a sample of high-technology establishments in Northeast Ohio are described. Viewed from theoretical perspectives on subcontracting, the types of linkages which these establishments maintain and the spatial extent of their subcontracting arrangements are investigated. Inputs to the production process and sales of intermediate and final goods are also examined to identify the regional and interregional patterns of activities. These establishments maintain the bulk of their linkages with the durable goods industries of the industrial heartland. Subcontracting transactions are confined largely to Northeast Ohio and the other major metropolitan industrial regions of the Midwest. Sales of products are more geographically dispersed, both interregionally and internationally. These findings demonstrate that interfirm transactions are both numerous and geographically specific. They support theoretical statements about the structure and extent of transactions in metropolitan-based industrial complexes.

Recent attention given to the concept of vertical integration and disintegration of production processes has identified the existence of a continuum, with small, flexibly specialized producers at one end and large, mass production units at the other end. Firms along the continuum constantly strive for the optimum combination of economies of scale and scope. This paper attempts to identify the organizational characteristics of high technology firms in one industrial complex of the U.S. Manufacturing Belt. A principal components analysis is performed on a number of theoretically relevant variables for a sample of high technology establishments in Northeast Ohio. The results indicate that the region contains a variety of organizational forms ranging from isolated workshops to large, vertically integrated assembly plants. These findings conform to expectations derived from recent conceptualizations in the literature. Additional empirical research will further enhance understanding of the processes that shape the organization of production in territorial complexes.

Merger and acquisition activities have changed the manner in which banks spatially organize their facilities. Banks are no longer restricted to small and independent market areas; services such as multi-branching (both inter- and intrastate) and freestanding ATMs allow banks to compete in markets outside their immediate areas. In addition, the increasing merger and acquisition activity between banks has reduced the number of bank choices available to the consumer and may result in the loss of bank branches as newly merged banks adjust the number of facilities within a given area. This paper examines the spatial organization of the commercial bank industry by assessing how the consolidation of banks through the merger and acquisition processes is changing bank markets. Findings include an absolute increase in the number of mergers, a substantial loss in the number of unit banks, and a migration of merger activity from Eastern states to the Midwest and West.