Organizational Dynamics of the U.S. Logistics Industry: An Economic Geography Perspective* Yuko Aoyama, Samuel Ratick, and Guido Schwarz Clark University Although the logistics industry provides critical services to all sectors of the economy, few studies exist in economic geography that examine and explain the organizational dynamics of this industry. This article high- lights the significance of the logistics industry in contemporary industrialization and argues that an enriched understanding of the interaction between technology and space can be achieved by examining the evolution of an industry that plays a central role in the contemporary economy. We focus on dimensions that are identified as particularly important: organizational, geographic, and risk and security. Key Words: industrial organization, information technology, logistics industry, security. T he logistics industry includes firms that provide a wide range of services, from as- set-based activities, such as trucking and ware- housing, to increasingly strategic and integrated functions, such as supply chain optimization. In the United States in 2000, the logistics industry was roughly equivalent to 10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), and although that share has been declining due to improved efficiency, it remains an important industry with significant size, scope, and effect. In spite of the crucial functions it provides, few studies exist in economic geography of the organizational dy- namics of this industry. Recent research that attempts to forge links between economic and transport geographies are primarily driven by interests from transport geographers (see, e.g., Hesse and Rodrigue 2004; Rodrigue 2004). Economic geographers have remained surpris- ingly silent about this sector, particularly with regard to how it may respond to the chal- lenges of contemporary economic, technolog- ical, and political change, and on the concomitant consequences for the economy of those responses. While maintaining focus on the organiza- tional, geographic, and risk and security dimen- sions of the logistic industry, this article attempts to fill that gap, and also to address the ‘‘productionist-bias’’ (Wrigley, Lowe, and Currah 2002) through the examination of a nonmanufacturing industry. We use evidence collected through published literature and data, preliminary results from our nationwide online survey of logistics providers, and findings from interviews we undertook with a dozen industry insiders in eastern seaboard states. The online survey was offered to 1,994 members of the Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) who self-identified themselves as logistics providers. The questionnaire ran online from 12 March to 18 April 2005 and voluntary responses were so- licited via e-mail; 143 responses (response rate of 7.2 percent) were completed in that time frame. Fifty-five multiple-part survey questions covered topics including company characteris- tics (e.g., size, type, location), services the com- pany provides, views about and experiences with information technology (IT), relationships with customers, information about subcontracting, industry trends, subcontracting, investments in IT, and relationships with suppliers. In the summer of 2004, semistructured interviews were conducted with more than a dozen logistics providers and users in the Bos- ton-Washington corridor. Subjects included both U.S. and non-U.S. firms ranging from *Research for this paper was supported by a National Science Foundation grant (BCS-0350697), ‘‘Organizational Dynamics of the U.S. Logistics Industry: The Impacts of Inter-firm Relations, Technologies, and Globalization.’’ We thank the five anonymous reviewers for providing very useful suggestions for revision of earlier drafts of this article. We also want to acknowledge the contributions of the interview participants, and those who participated in our Logistics Provider Survey. The Professional Geographer, 58(3) 2006, pages 327–340 r Copyright 2006 by Association of American Geographers. Initial submission, August 2004; revised submissions, June 2005 and November 2005; final acceptance, December 2005. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, U.K.