Spatial Patterns of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in Cities of Various Sizes, Morphologies and Economies

Abstract

We compare intra-urban localization patterns of advertising and IT companies in three large Czech cities. The main aim of our analysis is an empirically-based contribution to the question to what extent do knowledge bases affect the spatial distribution of various knowledge-intensive business industries. The central research question is: To what extent is the localization of these two industries influenced by different modes of innovation/knowledge bases (symbolic vs. synthetic) and to what extent by contextual factors, such as urban size, morphology, position in the urban hierarchy and economic profile of the given city. We found that the urban contexts shape the localization patterns of advertising and IT companies more than differences in knowledge bases-both industries cluster primarily in the inner cities and urban cores. Formation of more suburban IT "scientific neighborhoods" is limited. significantly to the economic transformation of formerly industrial cities (considering IT, Brno is now the most specialized city in Czechia and Ostrava is the third) [13][14][15].Advertising is a representative of KIBS with a purely symbolic knowledge base. These companies should require tight geographical proximity to their customers, suppliers or rivals [16,17], and cluster in urban cores and dense inner cities, close to the headquarters of large corporations and public institutions. By contrast, services with a predominantly synthetic knowledge base (such as IT) rely primarily on knowledge sourcing and innovation collaboration with partners inside value chains, which are not necessarily local [18,19]. IT companies should, thus, exhibit more dispersed spatial patterns (However, Zook [20] documented clustering of internet companies in the inner city, close to the financial institutions, Spencer [12] also noted this possible location pattern), although they may cluster at the neighborhood level as well [12].Méndez-Ortega and Arauzo-Carod [21] stated that " . . . in addition to industry-specific characteristics that determine some external requirements by these firms (such as accessibility to skilled labour or specialized IT suppliers), there are some city-specific characteristics (e.g., urban policies, spatial distribution of economic activity) that also matter, and which shape the location decisions taken by these firms." We aim to analyze exactly these city-specific characteristics and their effects on the spatial distribution of firms. Our central research question is: To what extent are localization patterns of selected KIBS influenced by their distinct modes of innovation (knowledge bases) and to what extent by the city-specific characteristics?Funding: This research wJan Žas funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports through a research grant "SMART technologies to improve the quality of life in cities and regions" (no.

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