POWER SHIFT: THE RISING CONTROL OF DISTRIBUTORS AND RETAILERS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN FOR MANUFACTURED GOODS

The development of new technology combined with the process of deregulation is changing the organizational structure of firms in the wholesale sector. These factors are altering the traditional location of wholesale and warehouse employment, and a variety of countervailing locational tendencies are emerging, including the decentralization of large mass wholesalers and their warehousing complexes and increasing specialization of inner-urban wholesale and warehouse functions. Nationally based wholesalers now transport goods off-hours to meet the needs of large-destination customers. Small, specialized firms make use of new technology 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 wholesalers move their warehousing operations out to rural and adjacent suburban areas to take advantage of cheaper land and labor.