POWER SHIFT - THE RISING CONTROL OF DISTRIBUTORS AND RETAILERS IN THESUPPLY CHAIN FOR MANUFACTURED GOODS

The development of new technology combined with the process of deregul ation is changing the organizational structure of firms in the wholesa le sector. These factors are altering the traditional location of whol esale and warehouse employment, and a variety of countervailing locati onal tendencies are emerging, including the decentralization of large mass wholesalers and their warehousing complexes and increasing specia lization of inner-urban wholesale and warehouse functions. Nationally based wholesalers now transport goods off-hours to meet the needs of l arge-destination customers. Small, specialized firms make use of new t echnology to reduce costs, while offering highly tailored services to traditional customers. There also is a general reduction in wholesale employment, with losses concentrated in inner-urban areas as large who lesalers move their warehousing operations out to rural and adjacent s uburban areas to take advantage of cheaper land and labor.