Premium
The duality of world cities and firms: comparing networks, hierarchies, and inequalities in the global economy
Author(s) -
NEAL ZACHARY P.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
global networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.685
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1471-0374
pISSN - 1470-2266
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0374.2008.00187.x
Subject(s) - hierarchy , centrality , inequality , globalization , structuring , capitalism , economic geography , position (finance) , competition (biology) , dual (grammatical number) , urban hierarchy , service (business) , world economy , duality (order theory) , global network , economic system , business , economics , economy , political science , sociology , market economy , computer science , mathematics , telecommunications , art , population , law , mathematical analysis , ecology , literature , biology , demography , finance , combinatorics , politics , discrete mathematics
Much of the research on globalization conceives of the global economy as structured by networks among places, while separately organizational research has examined the role of networks among firms in structuring competition, collaboration, and cooperation. In both cases, position and centrality within the network confers certain advantages and disadvantages, the distribution of which defines a hierarchy. In this article, I explore the idea of dual networks of world cities and firms, then use Breiger's approach to define two such networks: one among 313 world cities, another among 100 advanced producer service firms. Comparison of the degree of inequality in the hierarchies implied by these networks suggest that world city hierarchies are steeper than firm hierarchies (that is there is greater inequality among cities). Thus, even under conditions of footloose global capitalism, place still matters: where a producer is located has more impact than who provides support services.