What can logistics do for you?
A couple of decades ago, visitors to the quiet city of Zaragoza, Spain, had no reason to think it would become a capital of world trade. But in 2000, the city opened Europe’s largest logistics hub, called PLAZA — and now Zaragoza is a key global shipping link, connecting manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, among others involved in international commerce. Fish caught off the coast of Namibia, in Africa, are flown to Zaragoza before being sold around the Iberian peninsula; clothes made in Portugal stop in Zaragoza en route to Asia. Meanwhile, the presence of the transportation hub has convinced more businesses to locate themselves near the city.“It is a positive feedback loop,” says Yossi Sheffi, the Elisha Gray II Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT and author of a new book on the growth of logistics hubs and their role in driving economic growth. In places such as Zaragoza, he...