One of the most important dimensions of the recent transformation to a service economy within the United States has been the growth of producer-service industries, firms that provide products and services to business firms and other organizations, such as government agencies. From 1980 to 1988, these firms accounted for roughly one-third of all new jobs established in the nation. The growth of these firms has substantially altered the ways that American businesses organize production. Most producer-services firms locate in metropolitan areas and become parts of complex corporate networks, which usually consist of headquarters hubs linked to producer-service firms. This project will expand knowledge about the spatial and social structures of these complex corporate networks in metropolitan areas of the U.S. through in-depth case studies of four networks, two in manufacturing and two in services. Personal interviews will be conducted with officials in both contracting companies and producer-service contractors in the Akron, Cleveland, Kansas City, and San Francisco metropolitan areas. Special attention will focus on identification of the reasons why U.S. corporations have turned to outside contractors for the provision of producer services, how externalization of producer services has been related to broader forms of industrial organization, what social relations underlie market relationships between firms and producer-service providers, how forms of producer-service externalization vary among different types of industries, how corporate complexes have been spatially restructured, and what factors contribute to these spatial shifts. Data from these interviews will be used to form and test hypotheses about the spatial and social structure of industrial organization. They also will facilitate the development of a theoretical model of producer-service externalization, which will be tested in subsequent studies. This project will help fill important gaps in knowledge about the dramatic restructuring of American industry, especially the growth of producer-service firms and their operation within complex corporate networks. The data collected in interviews with both suppliers and users of producer services will test a number of important hypotheses, and they will assist in development of more general models of industrial organization.