Headquarters locations of the largest US corporations: uneven geographies and migrations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu07.2024.103Abstract
The headquarters of large corporations are the main asset of the economies of the largest cities in the developed world. Based on materials from Fortune-500 companies, an analysis of the spatial dynamics of corporate headquarters in US MSAs for 1980–2019 was carried out. Mapping and geographic analysis of the concentration and directions of migration made it possible to identify the main changes in the spatial pattern of the location of economic decision-making centers in the United States. Headquarters remain highly concentrated: half of them are located in the largest MSAs by population. In terms of revenue, MSA Fayetteville (Arkansas, headquarters of Walmart) stands out, in terms of market value - San Jose (the heart of Silicon Valley, only 36 in population), in terms of the number of employees - MSAs in which retail companies are located (Minneapolis, Atlanta). Geographic mobility of corporate headquarters has increased dramatically over the past 40 years. The main directions of migration: from the Northeast and from California to the MSA New York, the (Post-)Industrial Great Lakes (MSA Chicago), Texas, to the South (MSAs Atlanta and Charlotte) and the Pacific West. There are noticeable trends towards industry agglomeration: IT companies are moving to California, and financial firms are leaving it, moving to Texas. The main areas for the emergence of new headquarters of the largest corporations are: New York, (Post-)Industrial Great Lakes, the South, Texas and the Pacific West. In addition to the usual MSAs-leaders - New York (10% of all new headquarters), San Jose (10%), Chicago, Dallas and Houston - Denver and Richmond stand out. The spatial concentration of locations for new headquarters continues to increase. At the same time, at least one new headquarters appeared in ⅔ of the agglomerations. The identified trends in the migration of existing and the emergence of new corporate headquarters suggest significant shifts in the economic geography of the United States. The rapid growth of cities in the South and Inland South-West shows that the economies of these areas have reached a new level, expressed in the formation of their own “gateways” to the global economy.
Keywords:
corporate headquarters, US economy, corporate geography, localization, corporate strategy, agglomeration, human capital, regional economy
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