Transportation and the Geographical and Functional Integration of Global Production Networks

The growing interest in the relationships between transportation and globalization has spurred many inquires in the nature of production, consumption and distribution, especially within transport geography. It is widely acknowledged that improvements in transport and distribution have contributed to significant changes in the geographies of production (and vice versa). In a context of intense global competition and diminishing profit margins, logistics and the formation of global production networks offer additional opportunities to improve the efficiency of production through distribution strategies. The spatial and functional fragmentation of manufacturing and attempts at reducing inventories have led to smaller, more frequent and synchronized shipments, transforming the logistics industry, but placing intense pressures on transport systems to support these flows. The benefits derived from global production networks thus cannot be achieved without improvements in logistics and supply chain management. This paper seeks to assess the conditions driving the global forms of production, distribution and transport mainly by looking at the levels of geographical and functional integration of global production networks in view of the high level of fragmentation observed within them. However, there still many uncertainties and delays in distribution, which can only be compensated by a better organization of freight distribution systems supporting global production networks.