Mobility and Economic Importance of Corporate Headquarters and Headquarter Functions: A Canadian Perspective

An Overview of German Centers of Corporate Dominance and Motives for Corporate Headquarters Relocation

“…According to Boyle (1988), the larger the corporation, the more elaborate the administrative support structure. Rao (2015) argues that the globalization of production processes, R&D and corporate functions lead to a concentration of the latter. In comparison to European headquarters, US headquarters are twice the size on average, and Japanese headquarters are more extensive than anywhere else.…”

“…The difference in roles of corporate headquarters between the United States, Japan, and the European countries was summarized by Rao (2015) using the key findings of Collis et al (2008). It can be observed that Japanese companies tend to centralize corporate functions to a more significant extent than their counterparts in the United States and Europe continent.…”

“…An outlier within the European countries is Germany. The relative number of headquarters staff (about overall staff) controlled for corporate portfolio, structure, ownership, and regulation in Germany amounts to 0.68 while for France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom exhibit values between 0.32 and 0.4 (Rao, 2015).…”

“…Boyle (1988) defines corporate headquarters as a facility in which a company's chief executive and key associates have their primary offices. Porter's (1996) explained corporate headquarter as a corporate home base where strategy is set, core product and process development takes place, and where the essential and proprietary skills reside (Porter, 1996;Rao, 2015). However, there exist more narrow definitions such as the restriction to the term to the physical corporate center as part of the home base of the corporate parent (Rao, 2015).…”

“…Porter's (1996) explained corporate headquarter as a corporate home base where strategy is set, core product and process development takes place, and where the essential and proprietary skills reside (Porter, 1996;Rao, 2015). However, there exist more narrow definitions such as the restriction to the term to the physical corporate center as part of the home base of the corporate parent (Rao, 2015). Moreover, a distinction can also make between headquarters of multi-site firms (business establishments with branches or divisions) and single-site firms, which locate both production and headquarter activity at the same location (Strauss-Kahn & Vives, 2006).…”