Spatial structure and inter-firm networks of technical and information producer services in Seoul,Korea

A spatial and sectoral reorganisation of producer services has begun to change the urban structure of Seoul. In addition to the existing centre of the CBD, two areas, Kangnam and Yongdeungpo, have emerged as the new centres of producer services in Seoul resulting from relocations from the CBD and the location of firm start-ups and spin-offs, so creating a multi-centred structure. There is a difference between the centres related to the fact that Kangnam is specialised in advanced services and has strong local networks among service firms, firms in Yongdeungpo have strong forward linkages to nearby manufacturing firms and to larger producer service firms, while firms in the CBD are relatively older and have much more intensive overseas ties. This outcome illustrates that shifts in the organisation of producer services in favour of outsourcing have been felt in shifts in spatial patterns. These new structures illustrate that producer service location and operation have a powerful influence upon the pattern of development in Seoul.     

Japanese service sector multinationals and the hierarchy of Pacific Rim cities

The explosive growth of Japanese service sector activities overseas since 1985 has had a significant impact on Pacific Rim cities. However, previous accounts of Japanese direct foreign investment in services have been constrained by official statistics which provide comparative information only at a national level. This paper uses establishment level data to assess changes in the spatial patterns of Japanese service firms among 35 cities as well as changes in the hierarchy of cities in the Pacific during the years 1985 to 1995. The period saw important changes in Japan’s economy such as the emergence of a ‘bubble economy’ up to 1990 and domestic recession after that. The results show the importance of Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Angeles as centres of Japanese service firms. However, the analysis indicates that a shift occurred in Japanese service sector focus over the study period, across the Pacific Rim from North America and Oceania to cities of the Asia-Pacific region. Along with that shift the concentration of services in just a few cities has remained unchanged, even though some new cities have emerged in importance.     

Sustainable urbanization in Southeast Asia and beyond: Challenges of population growth,land use change,and environmental health

As economic growth centres, the Southeast Asian cities feature high population pressure, unsustainable land use, environmental degradation, and large ecological footprints. It is difficult to manage environmental health and basic services for urban dwellers, and ensure optimum flow of ecosystem services in the context of rapid, unplanned, and haphazard urbanization. These challenges are particularly multifaceted in the developing countries of Southeast Asian region. This study, based on secondary sources, adopted multidisciplinary lenses, such as geographical information systems, socio‐economic perspective, and sustainability science to examine the population situation, land use change pattern, and drivers of environmental degradation in the Southeast Asian cities as well as the Dhaka megacity, and brought forth a fresh perspective to look into contemporary urban ecosystems, population dynamics, environmental health, and sustainability. It also focused on identifying the commonalities among the cities under study to create a common understanding towards promoting collaborative urban development. This study shows that the urbanization process in the Southeast Asia region is taking place mostly in an unplanned and haphazard manner. With little concern for nature, life‐supporting ecological systems, and the environment, urban spatial growth continues unabated. The data surveyed and discussed in this paper shows that the current style of urbanization in Southeast Asia can best be called unsustainable. The findings also suggest that the general wellbeing and welfare of the current and future generations in Southeast Asian cities as well as in Dhaka is at risk. The paper recommends concerted efforts towards making the urbanization process sustainable, including better urban planning, policymaking, and international and regional cooperation.     

City Branding as a Response to Global Intercity Competition

Globalisation is dramatically changing the context of urban communities and the premises for urban development policy. In the context of global intercity competition, cities' major goal is to increase their competitiveness, in which the positioning and attractiveness of a city have a critical function. Attraction‐oriented development strategies aim at effective absorption of external resources from the global space of flows. At the core of attraction strategy are business promotion activities with appealing incentives, but it is assumed that such a competition is risky and may lead to a race to the bottom. Therefore the emphasis is increasingly on less costly and more synergistic city marketing, which utilises city branding and “city profiling” that aim at attract high value‐adding services or high‐tech firms. This paper proposes a city attraction hypothesis that states that global intercity competition is essentially about a city's ability to attract the highest possible value from global flows of values in order to promote urban development. The result of such a global intercity competition determines cities' functions and positions in the global division of labour and thus in the global urban hierarchy, and ultimately determines their ability to increase prosperity and welfare in urban communities.     

The geographically variegated connections of the Jakarta metropolitan area as produced by manufacturing firms

Connectivity in urban networks is often deemed to be an important feature of economically vibrant cities. Under conditions of contemporary globalization, the importance and geographies of these connections are increasingly variegated. Accordingly, various attempts have been made to analyse the external relations of cities and metropolitan regions, often through the lens of multilocational firms. Our purpose in this paper is to address the to‐date limited empirical knowledge about whether firms originating from different regions (i.e., firms with different headquarter [HQ] locations) create different patterns of inter‐urban relations. Drawing on the interlocking network model and using the Jakarta metropolitan area (JMA) as a case study, this paper explores how manufacturing firms with HQs either inside (further differentiating between the JMA and other cities) or outside (further differentiating between East Asian and non‐East Asian countries) Indonesia produce different patterns of external relations. Our findings indicate that each category of firms generates unique configurations of interurban relations for the JMA at the global and national scales. We argue that these variegated networks patterns not only reflect different locational strategies of firms, but also Indonesia's evolving policy orientations which have complex relations with evolving patterns of economic globalization.     

Air Passenger Transportation and Growth in the U.S. Urban System, 1950–1987

The relationship between transportation and urbanization at the national scale is revisited by focusing upon the role that air passenger transportation has played in the post-war evolution of the U.S. urban system. Theory suggests that major transportation innovations have exhibited profound and prolonged interdependencies with patterns of growth in national or regional urban systems. As the most recent major intercity transportation innovation, it should be expected that utilization of air transportation should bear some relationship to patterns of growth in urban places. This paper documents this relationship by using FAA and U.S. Census data to correlate volumes of air passenger flows per capita with changes in population and employment for the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. The expectation that higher volumes of air passenger flow per capita exhibit a positive correlation with both previous and subsequent growth is confirmed by the analysis. More detailed examination of both high and low air passenger index cities suggests functional and regional consistencies with the central hypothesis. The implications of these results for air transportation and airport planning include at least some justification for increased attention to provision of air service and adequate airport infrastructure as well as reiteration of the importance of air transportation in economic development.     

Emerging Global Logistics Networks: Implications for Transport Systems and Policies

ABSTRACT Logistics chains are constantly changing to facilitate increasingly global movements. In qualitative terms, long term trends in logistics services indicate a growing degree of product customization and an increased responsiveness in order delivery. These trends impact on the development of technology and the growth of welfare in different world regions in different ways. This paper drafts a research agenda which will help to improve understanding of the interrelationships between trade, logistics, transport, and regional development at a global scale. Rather than being an exhaustive or detailed inventory of trends, the paper provides a focus on “supply chain by thinking.” The key starting point is the need for more and more efficient transportation and sophisticated logistics processes. Three subjects are treated: First, the strategic implications of borderless supply chain management on the choice of alternative logistics structures in supply chains are considered; second, the possible impacts of the expected changes in supply chain processes upon regional economic activities are examined; third, the impacts of changes in global logistic processes on the transportation system and, in turn, on the environment are explored. This discussion leads to the identification of some new research challenges in the field of transportation and logistics.     

Agglomeration and Competition among Chinese Cities: An Investigation of Taiwanese High‐Tech Foreign Direct Investment

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Taiwanese high‐tech firms' foreign direct investment (FDI) leads to agglomeration and competition among cities in China. By using social network analysis to analyze 1,111 subsidiaries affiliated with 270 multinational corporations (MNCs) during the years between 1988 and 2006 in 30 major Chinese cities, this study finds that: 1) agglomeration in Chinese cities falls into three primary categories: the hub cluster, the communication‐extended cluster, and the computer‐extended cluster. Among the aforementioned clusters, the hub cluster is the most critical in terms of firm location, and therefore is often a high‐priority investment site for Taiwanese high‐tech firms. 2) Chinese cities fall into four primary groups, or “blocks”: the core block, the coast block, the inland block, and the periphery block; these groups were determined by applying a structural equivalence analysis of which members of each type are in competition with one another. By linking the findings of the urban network characteristics to Chinese regional economic policies, this study provides guidance to aid executives in determining the optimal location for future FDI. Implications and suggestions for host country governments in terms of firms' investment strategies are also discussed.     

Innovation in the periphery: Compensation and exploitation strategies

Recent research has challenged the urban bias in economic geography and innovation studies, showing that highly innovative and competitive firms are also located in peripheral regions. So far, however, analyses has focused on how firms innovate despite their unfavourable location and little has been said about the innovation benefits of peripheral areas. Hence, this article identifies different compensation and exploitation strategies adopted by firms in order to overcome regional innovation constraints and to reap innovation benefits found in the periphery. Drawing on 20 in‐depth qualitative interviews with innovative firms situated in the Austrian periphery, our analysis reveals that innovation in peripheral regions is the outcome of a combination of compensation and exploitation practices. The uptake and composition of these strategies depend on the firm and regional characteristics, with firm size being the most influential factor.     

The Spatial Structure of Large U. S. Law Firms

Large law firms exert a disproportionate influence over the structure and practice of the legal profession. The spatial structure of these corporations, including the distribution of headquarters and branch offices and their interlinkages, is poorly understood. This paper explores the geography of domestic employment among the largest U. S. 500 law firms using linkage analysis. It highlights the concentration of such firms in large cities and the particular importance of New York and Washington, D. C. In the international arena, U. S. law firms are highly influential. The paper examines the spatial distribution of overseas employment by large U. S. law firms and utilizes input-output analysis to explore the domestic employment impacts of foreign legal services exports.     

State Characteristics and the Locational Choice of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Regional FDI in Mexico 1989–2006

ABSTRACT Despite the growing importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Mexican economy, statistical evidence on the determinants of the regional distribution of foreign‐owned firms is seriously limited. In this paper, empirical findings are presented from a variety of econometric models that identify several regional characteristics influencing the locational choice of FDI. The main findings are threefold. First, several locational factors appear to be potentially important; these include regional demand, wages, schooling, infrastructure, and agglomeration economies. Second, the effect of agglomeration economies stems from several sources. In particular, the regional presence of agglomerations of manufacturing activity and of foreign‐owned manufacturing firms both have an independent positive effect on the locational decision of new FDI. Third, the locational process of maquiladora firms differs from the locational process of overall FDI. The actual findings suggest that regional demand and infrastructure, as suggested above, are not important locational factors for export‐oriented firms. Furthermore, whereas agglomeration economies from manufacturing and the presence of existing FDI attract new maquiladora investment, the presence of a regional agglomeration of services deters the location of new maquiladora firms. Finally, agglomeration economies appear to be more important in the locational process of maquiladora firms.     

Freight Integration in Liner Shipping: A Strategy Serving Global Production Networks

ABSTRACT Container shipping lines are well aware of the growing importance of global production networks. While continuing to focus on improving the fundamentals, many shipping lines have developed a keen interest in other segments of the logistics and transportation market to offer integrated and worldwide services to global production networks. This paper aims to assess the overall level of freight integration in thirty‐four shipping lines, and provides an insight into the extent to which freight integration serves as a business model in liner shipping. The results point to a great variety and range of freight integration in the shipping business. Each carrier leverages its service portfolio to develop specific capabilities. There is clearly no single best strategy for the whole liner shipping industry to serve global production networks.     

Diverse diversities—Open innovation in small towns and rural areas

It is generally accepted that cities and other forms of geographic agglomerations are conducive to innovation because their density and variety of firms, sectors and individuals create a diverse environment. However, a growing body of work shows that innovation also occurs in peripheral regions and small towns. Furthermore, work on rural social networks shows that diversity is multidimensional, and that along certain dimensions networks developed in rural areas are more diverse than those observed in cities. In this paper, we develop these arguments, then report our observations of seven successful firms in Swiss small towns. These firms benefit from at least three types of diversity: internal diversity; multiplexed interactions between workers at different hierarchical levels; and external diversity as firms reach beyond the region. We conclude that diversity conducive to firm‐level innovation is not a specifically urban attribute: at least some of its dimensions are present in small towns and more peripheral areas.     

Beyond “Global Production Networks”: Australian Fashion Week's Trans‐Sectoral Synergies

ABSTRACT When studies of industrial organisation are informed by commodity chain, actor network, or global production network theories and focus on tracing commodity flows, social networks, or a combination of the two, they can easily overlook the less routine trans‐sectoral associations that are crucial to the creation and realisation of value. This paper shifts attention to identifying the sites at which diverse specialisations meet to concentrate and amplify mutually reinforcing circuits of value. These valorisation processes are demonstrated in the case of Australian Fashion Week, an event in which multiple interests converge to synchronize different expressions of fashion ideas, actively construct fashion markets and enhance the value of a diverse range of fashionable commodities. Conceptualising these interconnected industries as components of a trans‐sectoral fashion complex has implications for understanding regional development, world cities, production location, and the manner in which production systems “touch down” in different places.     

The patterns and driving forces of uneven regional growth in ASEAN countries: A tale of two Thailands' path toward regional coordinated development

Uneven development has long been a critical issue in geography and urban studies, leading to economically inefficient urbanization, environmentally unbalanced regions, and socially unequal livelihoods. As one result, primate cities and urban primacy form within a hierarchical urban system, to which urban and regional planning must positively respond. It is worth noting that Thailand has experienced a number of important urbanization issues related to developing countries, such as semicolonialism and internal colonialism. This study aims to investigate regional uneven development based on primacy theory and the rank‐size rule, which are common in most Asian and developing countries. We examined the urbanization processes in Thailand, from 2000 to 2015, by looking at factors of population, GDP, land use, transportation networks, and nighttime light, which provide very recent regional development patterns. The second set of analyses explained the degree of primacy among different provinces and their ranking hierarchies. By presenting the persistent disparities of contemporary urbanization in Thailand and exploring its driving forces, this study offers insights into planning and policy and underscores the importance of regional coordinated development for achieving sustainable urbanization in Southeast Asian countries.     

Global‐local initiatives in FDI: The experience of Shenzhen,China

Abstract: In 2002, China surpassed the USA to become the world's largest foreign investment destination. Many Chinese cities, especially those along the coast, have become hot spots for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The urban development of these Chinese cities, as in most market societies, has increasingly depended upon their global connections. However, it is unclear to what degree the governments of these cities are able to influence the decisions of foreign investors. This paper uses Shenzhen city as a case study to examine how multi‐nationals’ spatial and sectoral patterns have been changed over time and to what degree the local government has been able to influence multinationals’ locational and sectoral selection. It is concluded that Shenzhen has managed to create a strategy to maximise its ability to benefit from global economic forces and to attract multinational manufacturers in the locality, and particularly in increasing its target sector of technology‐intensive industry. This case study demonstrates the importance of a strong city government in managing growth and reacting decisively to globalisation.     

Who leads regional industrial dynamics? “New industry creators” in Chinese regions

Recent evolutionary economic geography studies have argued that regional diversification emerges as a path‐dependent process, as regions often branch into industries that are related to its industrial structure. However, it is less clear who are creating new industries and under what regional conditions. This research seeks to fill this gap and identify “new industry creators” in regional industrial diversification. We differentiate two types of new industry formation—path‐breaking and path‐dependent—and examine whether some new industry creators are more path‐breaking than others, by incorporating two factors that have been largely overlooked in recent literature on technological relatedness—firm heterogeneity and regional institutions. Based on a firm‐level data set of China’s manufacturing industries, this paper shows that path‐breaking and path‐dependence coexist. Empirical results confirm that firm heterogeneity and regional institutions not only affect the firms’ capabilities in creating new industries, but also encourage/discourage firms to be adventurous and path‐breaking. This research implies that lagging regions can catch up with developed regions by coordinating regional resources and adjusting local institutional arrangements to attract more path‐breaking firms.     

Transnational Corporations,Global Production Networks,and Urban and Regional Development: A Geographer's Perspective on Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy

This paper offers an economic‐geographical interpretation of the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in urban and regional development that is grounded in Dunning and Lundan's (2008 ) Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy. I argue that TNCs and their activity are indisputably one of the keys to understanding urban and regional development in today's globalizing world economy. To support this perspective, I will deploy the recently developed analytical framework of global production networks (GPNs) to unpack the complex and mutually dependent relationships between TNCs and urban and regional development. The paper first provides a critique of several recent influential theories of urban and regional growth and identifies the omitted components in such important actors as TNCs. It then offers an analysis of TNCs as key agents of urban and regional development on the basis of ideas on TNC strategies, networks, and regional institutions expressed in Multinational Enterprises. Finally, I draw upon a relational view of TNCs in GPNs to illustrate how urban and regional development is increasingly a “globalizing” phenomenon. Situated in recent work in economic geography, I elaborate on the concept of strategic coupling as an interfacing mechanism bringing together TNCs and development at the urban and regional scales.     

Interregional Trade in Producer Services: Review and Synthesis

This paper reviews some of the past decade's studies of producer or intermediate-services exports from local regions. After a discussion of conceptual and methodological problems and inconsistencies, we present these studies according to the three basic methodologies: surveys, location quotients, and input-output. Overall, our sense is that these studies support limited but important conclusions: (1) If intermediate services are defined broadly, certain of these activities have as their major function interregional or international transfer or trade. By nature, these distributive services have widespread clients, and benefit from locations with substantial physical and communications infrastructure. (2) Among most business-and financial-service activities, most offices are established to serve a local region, but may derive some revenues from beyond this expected zone. (3) The exceptions—the activities and establishments that derive much of their revenue beyond such “normal” zones—are particularly specialized, particularly large, or parts of multiregional enterprises. (4) Such firms tend to locate in larger or more specialized urban places, probably because of the labor force, the corporate connections, and the rapid dissemination of ideas, contacts, and information within and among the largest metropolitan areas. These conclusions lead to some general policy recommendations.     

城市旅游发展潜力评价体系构建及应用研究——以中国15个副省级城市为例

城市旅游发展潜力是指城市在旅游资源、旅游区位、旅游企业、旅游产业地位等自然经济环境等因素的综合作用下,在与其他城市竞争中所体现出来的潜在的、能够发挥出来并能促进旅游产业持续发展的能力。目前关于城市旅游发展潜力的研究日益引起学者们的关注与重视,笔者以中国15个副省级城市为例,通过对前人研究的总结和归纳,从旅游发展基础、旅游发展能力和未来发展空间3个维度选取6个指标进行量化分析,运用离差最大化法对各城市进行旅游发展潜力进行比较,结果显示,广州与杭州在15个副省级城市当中旅游发展潜力最大,论文最后对评价结果进行了分析与总结,以期对中国城市旅游产业的发展提供相应的理论支持。