Corporate Geography

This text examines the spatial structures and behaviour of large business organizations. Corporations are key operational units of economies. Each corporation has several locations, and connections to suppliers and customers who also operate in geographical space. The effectiveness of corporate spatial organizations is important for their well-being, and for the health of the national and local economies in which they operate. This volume discusses where and why firms locate units or production, sales and control and how these interact with each other, with suppliers and with customers. The discussion is founded on commercial geography, business economics and location theory, but there are some unique characteristics. One is the blending of manufacturing and retailing in one treatise. Another is the extensive use of real-company case studies, which illustrate both basic concepts and the inadequacies of existing models. Corporate managers can relate to the experiences of actual companies.