Construct Validity in World City Network Research: From Office Location Networks to Inter-Organisational Projects in the Analysis of Intercity Business Flows

Pažitka, Vladimír; Wójcik, Dariusz; Knight, Eric

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3349287

Cited by 5 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…We rely on the concept of the inter-organizational project to operationalize our measures of network centrality. Inter-organizational projects are defined as those involving multiple financial services firms and delivered to a single client, as a form of service provision (Pažitka et al, 2018). We do not consider all possible inter-organizational projects, but instead focus on underwriting syndicates of equity and debt securities, syndicated loans and M&As with multiple advisors.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cluster dynamics of financial centres in the UK: do connected firms grow faster?

Pažitka

Wójcik

2018

Regional Studies

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This study investigates the connection between network centrality and firm growth on a sample of 3224 financial services firms located in the UK in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The findings, based on a spatial econometric model of long-term firm growth, indicate that firms that span structural holes, engage in co-management appointments and have network connections to related companies in other financial centres grow faster. In contrast, such connections generate substantial negative indirect effects on proximate firms, leading to a divergence of growth rates between globally connected and locally embedded firms.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cluster dynamics of financial centres in the UK: do connected firms grow faster?

Pažitka

Wójcik

2018

Regional Studies

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“…To date, however, most empirical attention has focused on networks of world cities 1 through analyses of the Interlocking World City Network (IWCN) model (Taylor and Derudder, 2016). Even though this approach has received criticism because of the assumed, not observed nature of the modelled interactions (Pazitka et al, 2019), it has offered a robust and sustained analysis of shifts within the economic geographies of APS at the global scale. Still, world city networks are but half of the story: world-city formation is just as much about rooted dynamics in place that allow for the reproduction of control capabilities over the global economy, hinging on both network and localisation economies (van Meeteren et al, 2016c).…”

Section: Introduction: World-city Formation and The Advanced Producermentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the advanced producer services complex in world cities: Charting professional networks, localisation economies and markets

et al. 2020

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Limited empirical evidence in support of world-city formation has been the ‘dirty little secret’ of the eponymous research area. Since the late 1990s, inspired by Sassen’s account of The Global City, the field focused on advanced producer services (APS) firms as primary actors in world-city formation. While generating robust insights into the shifting geographies of world cities, empirical attention has mostly focused on mapping inter-urban world city networks formed by APS firms. Despite a rich literature on APS clusters, the degree to which specific intra-urban agglomerations and their inter-firm connections shape up has received little systematic attention. Based on a company survey in Brussels (Belgium), our study charts interactions between APS professionals to better understand the geographies, quality and intensity of their encounters. Our findings reveal that the Brussels-based APS cluster constitutes a hybrid of an industrial complex with stable formal ties and a social network based on informal exchange. Financial services assume a central position in what might be called ‘a para-financial services complex’, revealing close ties with legal services, accountancy and audit, and ICT. Geographically, we find that the APS complex depends on fine-grained localisation economies, which allow a small share of APS professionals to service both domestic and international clients. We conclude that APS actors in Brussels exhibit a strong domestic anchoring, indicative of the continued relevance of world cities as national financial centres amidst financial globalisation.

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“…I will therefore refer to their line of argumentation to develop a more balanced appraisal of this literature. Pazitka, Wójcik, and Knight's (2019) paper has two main objectives. First, it presents a critical review of the specific strand within the global/world cities literature that seeks to specify, measure, and analyze business connections between the world's major cities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, both Taylor's (2001) OLA and Pazitka, Wójcik, and Knight's (2019) IOPA create intercity connections by multiplying the input bipartite data set with its transpose. There are therefore much more similarities between OLAs and IOPAs than Pazitka, Wójcik, and Knight (2019) acknowledge, making their distinction between direct/indirect connections exaggerated and their assessment of the different approaches' "construct validity" less straightforward than it appears. Pazitka, Wójcik, and Knight (2019) also argue that the inter-city connections derived from their IOPA offer-contra OLAs-an empirical model of the world city network that is "structurally valid."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Bipartite Network Projections of Multi‐Locational Corporations: Realising the Potential

Derudder

2020

Geographical Analysis

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In this commentary, I evaluate the potential of bipartite network projections of multilocational corporations in quantitative structural analyses of world/global cities. My starting point is that the Geographical Analysis paper by Pazitka, Wójcik, and Knight (2019) paper provides a number of useful critical observations in this regard, but their analysis is also incomplete and at points potentially misleading. I make three points. First, in this literature the notion of "construct validity" is vague because there is no such thing as a comprehensive world city network: we are dealing with abstractions of a complex and multilayered reality at best, and bipartite network projections are no more than generic tools that can help capturing the multiple globalizations of specific sets of cities. Second, there is no reason to assume that a spatial interaction-based benchmark model can be used to assess the "structural validity" of these bipartite network projections. And third, rather than replacing bipartite network projections of multilocational corporations with bipartite network projections of project ecologies, this literature could above all benefit from geographers no longer borrowing projections from the social networks literature. Instead, we should try and come up with bipartite network projections that more adequately capture the geographical nature of how multilocational corporations/projects operate/unfold.

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Construct Validity in World City Network Research: From Office Location Networks to Inter-Organisational Projects in the Analysis of Intercity Business Flows

Cited by 5 publications

References 35 publications

Cluster dynamics of financial centres in the UK: do connected firms grow faster?

Cluster dynamics of financial centres in the UK: do connected firms grow faster?

Unpacking the advanced producer services complex in world cities: Charting professional networks, localisation economies and markets

Bipartite Network Projections of Multi‐Locational Corporations: Realising the Potential

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