Analysis of Spatial Organization of the Home Delivery Service System

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the spatial organization of the home delivery network system which organizes the entire area of Japan. Two major home delivery companies, Yamato Transport Co. Ltd. and Nippon Transportation Co. Ltd., were chosen as objects of investigation. We analysed the spatial organization of these home delivery service systems in Kanagawa Prefecture, which is adjacent to the Tokyo Metropolis. The eastern part of Kanagawa Prefecture, a part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, is a remarkably urbanized area, while the western part of it is less urbanized.The results of the analysis are summarized as follows:1) There is no difference in the principal organization between the above two companies. Both companies have a hierarchical functional organization. This is composed of three hierarchical functions: agency, collection and delivery establishment, and truck terminal as shown in Fig. 1.2) Consumers who use the home delivery service carry their loads to the agency as a rule. The agency functions as a lower order organization in direct contact with the consumer. The agency which is entrusted by a home delivery company is an existing establishment, such as a convenience store or a greengrocery. Therefore, we may say that the concept of threshold demand is not applicable to the location of the agency.3) The collection and delivery establishment (hereafter abbreviated as branch) is under direct management of the home delivery company. The branch organizes local space as a middle order function in the aspect of collection and as a lower order function in the aspect of delivery. To perform these functions, each branch has its territory.4) The branch site needs a considerably large area. We may say that this causes difficulty in acquisition of desirable branch sites in urbanized areas. As the demand for home delivery service rises, it becomes necessary to increase the number of branches. The reason for the above is that enlargement of the branch site at the existing location is practically impossible. If the enlargent of existing branches were possible, many branches as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 would be unnecessary for the present home delivery system.5) Truck terminals are the nodes of inter-region transportation and organize the region as a higher order function in the home delivery system. Each truck terminal also has its territory.The relations between the concepts of central place theory and the spatial oraganization of the home delivery system in Kanagawa Prefecture may be summarized as follows:We may say that the concepts of central place theory, that is, threshold demand and upper limit of range of goods, are applicable to the framework for theoreical location of home delivery organizations. However, there are great disparities between the real organization and the theoretical organization. For example, the number of branches is more than that expected in the theoretical considerations.The significant factors influencing the above disparity are the difficulty of acquisition of desirable spaces for the locations in urbanized areas and the competition between the companies for the market.Furthermore, we may point out that the home delivery service system functions perfectly when the system organizes the total area. This means that the profit of the each establishment is insignificant. The concepts of central place theory originally should be applicable to the location of profit motivated individual establishments. The spatial organization of the home delivery network system cannot be fully explained only by the concepts of the central place theory, because the establishments belonging to a network system function as elements of the system.