This study aims to make a comparative analysis on distribution systems of the chain stores. Two lead-ing chain stores in the Chukyo district were selected for a case study: chain A, a General Merchandis-ing Store (GMS); and chain B, a Supermarket (SM) specialized in food. The focal point of the analy-sis was on the integration of distribution systems and its spatial arrangement. This study first investi-gated the distribution channels of commodities from wholesalers to chain stores and analyzed the inte-gration of distribution systems. Then, the spatial arrangement of the distribution system was exam-ined from three viewpoints: the location of the distribution center; the delivery system; and the com-bination of production, distribution, and sales. (1) Chain A (GMS)
Clothes are brought to the distribution center before delivering to each chain A's shop. Commodi-ties other than clothes are delivered directly to each shop by wholesalers. Clothes wholesalers are nu-merous and spread throughout the country, so the center is indispensable to maintain delivery sched-ules. Thus, chain A has its own distribution center which handles only clothes and operates its own de-livery system.
This study also investigated the spatial arrangement of the wholesaler C delivery system, which cov-ers the entire Chukyo district and supplies food commodities to chain A's shops. Wholesaler C has been successively establishing distribution centers as chain A's shop network enlarges. Wholesaler C has four distribution centers and each is responsible for some chain A shops (Fig. 3). This arrange-ment of centers therefore enables wholesaler C to maintain the lead times that chain A requires.
Chain A is the main GMS chain in the Chukyo district and is the most important client of whole-saler C. Thus wholesaler C gives priority of deliveries to chain A's shops.
(2) Chain B (SM)
Chain B has its own two distribution centers (Fig. 5), from which all types of commodities are deliv-ered to its subordinate shops. This distribution system therefore enables chain B to deliver small-lot commodities very frequently and to reduce the inventory stock of shops. Chain B delivers commodi-ties to its shops every day.
After chain B introduced the system of regular lump delivery (teiji-ikkatsu-haiso, Fig. 4) in 1985, it has been able to deliver all types of commodities to all of its shops just in time and to arrange deliv-ery times in accordance with the time of sales. Chain B has its own food factory, in which private brand (PB) commodities are produced. Thus chain B has a combined system for production, distribu-tion, and sales.
(3) Comparison and conclusions
While the delivery of commodities to chain A is basically managed by wholesalers, chain B oper-ates its own distribution system. Chain A is a giant GMS chain store in the Chukyo district, and there-fore wholesalers have a high regard for it. This situation allows for on-time delivery of commodities to chain A's shops. However, chain A has its own distribution center for clothing, because clothing wholesalers are very scattered. On the other hand, the stock rooms of chain B's shops are smaller than those of chain A, so it must integrate many distribution systems in order to deal with small-lot commodities.
Consequently, a chain store must integrate many distribution channels, when the stocking zone is lar-ger, deliveries are more frequent and the lot size of commodities is smaller. Today, when competition is heating up in the field of chain stores, the integration of distribution channels is important for their prosperity.

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Systematic and remarkable fault offset and benchmark displacement were detected over the north-ern portion of Awaji Island and the Kobe area after the Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake of M7.2 which occurred at 5:46 a.m., January 17, 1995. A comparison of the GPS measurement data and the levelling before and after the earthquake shows that the particular fault blocks separated by conjugate strike-slip faults moved horizontally in a given direction accompanied by tilting.
Horizontal movements of fault blocks have been analyzed as a first approximation for rigid rhom-bic blocks on the basis of benchmark displacement and strike-slip offset. This shows that the Hari-manada block on the northwest side of the Nojima fault first moved from west to east under EW compression and pushed the Suma-West-Rokko block, resulting in the latter's NE-directing displace-ment. The North-Awaji block on the southeast side of the fault was also pressed southward by the Harimanada block. As a result, the Northwestern Osaka Bay block was assumed to have moved toward the southwest direction attaching to these two blocks.
The block movements brought about displacement of boundary faults such as a right lateral one along the NE-SW-directed faults and a left-lateral one along the WNW-ESE faults, respectively. These conjugate strike-slip faults actually run in parallel on the land surface and are associated with a certain amount of vertical displacent due to tilting of the blocks.
This arrangement of blocks and fault movements are in harmony with the microtopography observed after the earthquake along the Nojima fault and the focal mechanism of the earthquake in-cluding the main shock and aftershocks. Previous studies on the Rokko Mountains and surrounding areas, especially covering the seismicity and fracture system, also support this.
Tilting of the Suma-West-Rokko block brought about by the earthquake is in harmony with that shown by the altitudinal distribution of marine terraces on the block, although to a lesser degree. Un-der the assumption of a uniform rate of tilting over geologic age, it can be calculated by comparison of the tilting amounts that the same type of earthquake has occurred approximately once every 500 years on average. The result is reasonable if compared with historial earthquake records around this area.

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