18 Australian Geographical Studies • March 2004 • 42(1):18 –33 The Changing Geographies of Power and Control in Rural Service Provision: Recent Restructuring Within the Australian Tractor Dealership System BRONWYN HERBERT and BILL PRITCHARD, University of Sydney, Australia Abstract Over the past few years a considerable body of research has illuminated the changing geographies of service provision in rural Australia. Mostly, this work has emphasised the quantitative aspects of restructuring, by way of documenting numerical reductions in service delivery points and their implications for local employment and service access. In this paper, an examination of recent restruc- turing within the dealership system for high-horsepower tractors underlines that these quantitative changes also intersect with qualitative shifts to the character of service delivery. Interviews with 31 participants in the tractor dealership system of Central-West New South Wales reveal the recent evolution of a producer-driven supply chain in which two dominant, multinational, tractor- machinery companies have sought to exercise tighter control over customer rela- tions through the restructuring of franchise agreements with dealers. There has been a resultant demise of the independent dealership, and its replacement by a system of standardised, company-affiliated outlets operated by franchise holders. Hence, the spatial restructuring of this industry represents the surface manifes- tations of corporate strategies in which large economic entities are re-organising their interests in light of globalised theatres of competition and profit. In this sense, the tractor-dealership system is emblematic of changes to power and control in rural service provision as the franchise models propagated by large corporate interests increasingly subsume the small-business sector activities of Australia’s rural towns. KEY WORDS agricultural machinery; rural restructuring; rural geography; global commodity chains; franchising Introduction Questions relating to the level and quality of public and commercial services for people in rural areas have been a prominent and constant discourse in Australian public life over the past decade. According to many observers and analysts, a rationalisation of service points has encouraged the centralisation of facilities into larger regional centres, with adverse implica- tions for residents and business owners in small towns. In recent years, geographers and other social scientists have devoted considerable attention to analysing these issues, with particular attention to their effects in rural communities.