[Zurück]

G. Hanappi:
"Global cities and global firms?";
in: "Global Business & Economics Anthology", herausgegeben von: B&ESI; Global Business & Economics Anthology, 2009, ISSN: 1553-1392, S. 41 - 48.

This paper traces recent developments in the worldwide observed trend towards more and larger cities as well as trends in global production structures. In both areas the last decade has been characterized by important changes: For city developments the emergence of mega-cities in poorer parts of the world is the most spectacular and indeed dramatic development. But growth of the largest cities in OECD countries is remarkable too and poses severe - though different - problems for policy makers. And there is a global renaissance of the emergence of medium-sized cities, a phenomenon particularly important for macroeconomic policy. Part 1 of the paper will survey these urbanization trends. In part 2 a closer look at recent developments in the global structure of production units, of firms, will be taken. While there has been a sharp rise in the importance and influence of globally acting transnational corporations in the last decade, it also proved to be an ever more substantial task for economic policy to support and evolve structures of medium-sized firms which provide a rapidly growing share of employment. Higher employment volatility (geographically) of transnational corporations thus has to be contrasted by employment policy measures that redistribute the gains from higher labor productivity and global division of labor to increase welfare. Again the essential features of these changes will be highlighted. In the final third part of the paper connections between trends in both areas are identified. Indeed global specialization, diversification, urbanization and welfare policy measures form an interdependent dynamics, which only can be understood as a an evolving unity. This is what this last part of the paper will sketch.