The economic development role of regional logistics hubs: A cross-country study of interorganizational governance models

As global competition intensifies, the geographic fragmentation of supply chain activities is creating a concentration of trade at regional freight gateways or hubs. This has significant implications for the economic prosperity of the specific gateway regions. The study explores the deliberate governance efforts of regional economic development agencies and the communities they support in their attempts to exploit location-specific logistics assets to deliver economic productivity gains. Drawing on the new institutional economics’ body of literature, the research explores prevalent governance models which represent the proactive attempts by these agencies to transform regional logistics capability into cohesive hub strategies. By adopting exploratory cluster-mapping procedures, web content analysis, and Delphi panels, study findings suggest a typology of multijurisdiction, and multiagency governance models representing the collaborative efforts between public sector and government agencies, academic institutions, and private sector organizations within selected European and U.S. logistics hubs. Each governance type is defined in accordance to specific economic organization and proficiency characteristics.