Murray D. Rice - Research - Murray D. Rice

Research: Location Intelligence, Business Strategy, and Entrepreneurship

Overview

My location intelligence research interests are reflected by:

The quality of my scholarship has been recognized by the Business Geography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers, who presented me with their BGSG Distinguished Scholar Award in 2018.

What is Location Intelligence?

Location intelligence is the combined application of geographic thinking, visualization, and analytics to empower and enable organizations of all kinds to incorporate a consideration of place and space into an improved conceptual structure for decision-making. Geography has a rich literature and tradition of employing these conceptual and technological assets in aid of business decision-making ("business geography"). The power of location intelligence is its ability to extend this framework to similarly assist other organizations, such as non-profit organizations and governments, that do not exist to seek a monetary profit but nonetheless have important strategic and operational decisions to make that also have a spatial dimension.

Research Details

Beyond attention to concerns relating to the definition of the emerging location intelligence field, my research falls in two broad categories:

1. Metropolitan Corporate Development and Entrepreneurship

Research on the headquarters locations of the largest firms and the strategic positioning of these elite corporate activities
The evolving geography of highly-entrepreneurial, high-growth businesses across North America, and related insights into the relationship between rapid firm growth and headquarters location development
The track record of what happens to high-growth firms in the years following their peak growth
The evolving location and distribution of major subsidiary headquarters
The geography of corporate boards of directors, their impacts on business fortunes, how director networks and clusters have changed over time, and geographic analysis of directors' personal backgrounds with respect to business outcomes
Study of the geography of corporate infrastructure and material flows

2. Markets, Services, and Urban and Regional Change

The development strategies followed by large, national chain retailers, focusing on store and distribution center location issues
Analysis of the evolutionary paths followed by competing retail districts in a large urban setting
The geography of retail activity as it relates to urban change
The location of grocery retailing and other food providers relative to urban markets and community needs
The relationship between light rail development and retail business location decisions
Analysis of the mix and type of businesses that choose to locate in mixed-use, New Urban Developments

Click on the flyer image above to download a larger, PDF version.

Murray D. Rice and Tony Hernandez, editors. (2017) Location Intelligence Research and Applications. Kent, Ohio: Applied Geography Conference. ISBN: 978-0-99119-751-4. Click the image above to access a page enabling a free book download.

Below is a link to the location intelligence research group I participate in to facilitate and encourage collaborative research in all of the above areas (and more), leveraging the best from our UNT community of faculty colleagues, alumni, and current students. This group is a venue to facilitate our collaboration on research, teaching, and service-related projects.

Check out the link below to see more about our group, our research interests, and how the coursework we offer connects to rewarding real-world employment.

Click on the CV image above to view a copy of my CV.

Other Key Elements of My Research Program

My external support: Below is a summary of my funded requests for external funding and donor support.

2019. Maptitude Software for UNT Geography GIS Labs. Granted Software Request to Caliper Corporation, Newton, Massachusetts ($34,750: 50 Maptitude 2019 GIS software licenses to equip UNT Geography computer labs).
2018. Maptitude Software for UNT Geography GIS Labs. Granted Software Request to Caliper Corporation, Newton, Massachusetts ($34,750: 50 Maptitude 2018 GIS software licenses to equip UNT Geography computer labs).
2017. Maptitude Software for UNT Geography GIS Labs. Granted Software Request to Caliper Corporation, Newton, Massachusetts ($34,750: 50 Maptitude 2017 GIS software licenses to equip UNT Geography computer labs).
2016. Maptitude Software for UNT Geography GIS Labs. Granted Software Request to Caliper Corporation, Newton, Massachusetts ($34,750: 50 Maptitude 2016 GIS software licenses to equip UNT Geography computer labs).
2014. Defining the Record of Fast-Growing Firms as Members of Regional Business Communities. Funded Proposal to the Metropolitan Entrepreneurship Research Program, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, Missouri ($16,600).
2010. Alteryx Software Grant. Granted Software Request to Alteryx LLC, Irvine, California ($247,481: 50 Alteryx data management software academic licenses to equip UNT Geography computer labs).
2010. Business Growth, Business Decline, and Industry Development. Funded Proposal to the Canadian Embassy Research Grants Program (Foreign Affairs Canada), Washington, DC ($6,990).
2008. Firm Decline, Expansion, and Economic Evolution. Funded Proposal to the Canadian Embassy Research Grants Program (Foreign Affairs Canada), Washington, DC ($7,918).
2006. Rapid Firm Growth and Economic Evolution. Funded Proposal to the Canadian Embassy Research Grants Program (Foreign Affairs Canada), Washington, DC ($7,000).

Conference presentations: I regularly present at a number of prominent conferences. Here is an archive of selected conference presentations from the last few years.

Book: below you can find a link to my 2017 book that documents a wide range of applications in location intelligence.

Research collaborations: I am collaborating on investigations and curriculum development initiatives with an international network of faculty and industry experts who share my broad interests in geography, businesses, and cities. I particularly welcome inquiries from students who wish to engage in graduate studies related to any of my study fields; I also welcome expressions of collaboration interest from business geography academics and practitioners.

Interviews and other media: I've had the pleasure of having a few of my interview/lecture opportunities recorded over the years.

Here is a 2015 interview I did with Linda Peters for inclusion in Esri's Location Advantage MOOC. The interview focuses on the reasons why businesses should include geography in their planning, and why students should consider business geography as a career. Here is a transcript of the interview.
I appeared in a 2012 news report on TSTV, a Shandong Province, China television channel. In the report, TSTV covered a retail geography talk I gave at the University of Jinan. The report is in Chinese, but it includes a few comments from me in English.
Here is a 2009 podcast I did with the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC, where I discuss some of my research into the geography of rapidly-growing businesses in Canada.