In the year 1991, a famous sociologist named Saskia Sassen wrote a famous book, “The Global City”. The book captured a message predicting that large and advanced urban areas will define the modern world. She went on by identifying Tokyo, London and New York as the “Big Three”

Not surprisingly, Ms. Sassen is dead on in her prediction.  Her statement still holds true to this day. This is supported with the fact that there are “8,000 large companies” with over $1 billion in annual revenue.

I think since the early 90’s, it was clear who the big players (industries) are. It was also clear where those industries would like to locate themselves. Tokyo, London and New York might be the obvious pick, however we cannot underestimate the economic growth that is currently happening in China. Both Beijing and Shanghai are dominant forces in terms of businesses headquarters. China’s economy on its own has grown exceptionally for the past decade. Different factors of production could also push companies to build its headquarters in developing countries. In the future, I believe that most headquarters would be located in developing countries due to the nature of cheaper factor of productions.

Article:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/10/geography-business