Spoke-hub distribution paradigm
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The Spoke-hub distribution paradigm (also known as a hub and spoke model) derives its name from a bicycle wheel, which consists of a number of spokes jutting outward from a central hub. In the abstract sense, a location is selected to be a hub, and the paths that lead from points of origin and destination are considered spokes. Because of the efficiency (and relative inflexibility) of the model, it requires that the items (or people) being distributed must be routed through a central hub before reaching their destination.
Two industries that make use of this model are transport and freight.
FedEx founder Fred Smith pioneered the hub and spoke model for overnight package delivery in the mid-1970s. Smith established his company's hub at Memphis International Airport (Memphis, Tennessee). Soon after, other firms like UPS and Airborne had no choice but to develop their own hub and spoke model given the natural superiority of this system for speedy delivery of packages. In addition to FedEx, Delta Air Lines pioneered the hub and spoke system in the passenger transportation industry at its hub in Atlanta, Georgia to compete with Eastern Air Lines.
Hub and spoke industrial district
The "hub and spoke" has also been used in economic geography theory to classify a particular type of industrial district. Ann Markusen, an economic geographer, theorised about industrial districts where a number of key firms and/or industrial facilities act as a hub with associated suppliers and firms spread out across the economic landscape like the spokes of a wheel. The chief characteristic of such hub-and-spoke industrial districts is the domination of one or more large firms, in usually one sector, surrounded by smaller associated stakeholders. Examples of cities with such estates include Seattle with Boeing and Toyota City with Toyota.
References
Babcock, B. A., 2002, Making Sense of Cities: A Geographical Survey, London: Arnold, pp. 63–94.
Markusen, A., 1996, "Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts", in Economic Geography, 72: 293–313.
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