This study provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between air cargo and both trade and gross domestic product per capita for 63 nations. Structural equation models show that three factors enhance air cargo's positive economic impact: air service liberalization, improving Customs quality, and reducing corruption. The model further assesses the effects of these three factors on direct foreign investment per capita and gross domestic product per capita in the 63 countries, finding statistically significant relationships of all three factors on both dependent variables.

Corporate logistics requirements have airport cities morphing into "aerotropoli"; seaports are deepening channels for tomorrow's superfreighters; and bridge, tunnel and road projects will fix bottlenecks in the movement of people and freight.

More than a decade ago, futurist Alvin Toffler predicted that by the beginning of the 21st century one indisputable law would determine competitive success: survival of the fastest.

An increasingly fast-paced, economically-networked world is changing the rules of industrial competition and business location.

A new airport-driven urban economic form is evolving - the Aerotropolis. It is being ushered in by large jet aircraft and telecommunications advances accelerating global integration, time-based competition, and corresponding needs for speed, agility, and connectivity in the movement of people and products around the world.

Airport planners are not just planning airports. The economic impact of airports means that they often help to form and shape cities. Henry Canaday talks to John Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute at the University of North Carolina.

The automotive industry is at a critical juncture in its evolution. Vehicle manufacturers are merging horizontally into large portfolio-oriented companies focused on assembly and marketing while reducing their in-house development and manufacturing depth in favor of a multi-tier supplier base.

What opportunities and challenges await the 21st century industry? The picture is becoming clearer by the day. Commercial borders will effectively supplant national borders. Global sourcing will predominate as advanced telecommunications and transportation technologies allow a wide geographic dispersion of component manufacturing sites and places of final assembly, predicated on raw material availability, labor costs and skills, and markets.

Dramatic changes are occurring in the way businesses operate around the world. Underlying those changes is the emergence of a new competitive environment in which price and quality are necessary — but no longer sufficient — for commercial success. Increasingly, customers from both established and emerging markets and demanding fast and reliable delivery of products with distinctive, personalized features. Industrial advantage is gained by firms that respond flexibly and rapidly to their domestic and global customers, delivering lower cost, high-quality products quickly and effectively.

Increased global competition means that industry and government must work together to ensure that manufacturers have support networks of transportation, telecommunications, services, and knowledge centers.

The competitive environment for manufacturing firms has changed drastically in the past ten to 15 years. Customers in geographically dispersed, emerging and established global markets now demand higher quality products at lower cost in a shorter time. As a result, firms have been forced to reorganize their manufacturing activities and realign their global strategies.

Today's competitive pressures require goods-producing firms to simultaneously manage multiple cross-organizational information and material flows in order to source, manufacture, and deliver their products better, faster, and cheaper. This change has precipitated a radical shift in our thinking about the architecture of production, the importance of traditional supply chain relationships, and, most importantly, the role of logistics.