Jonathan V Beaverstock

A roster of world cities

Abstract Although there is a general consensus on which are the leading world cities, there is no agreed-upon roster covering world cities below the highest level. This paper reports the construction of an inventory of world cities based upon their level of advanced producer services. Global service centres are identified and graded for accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law. Aggregating these results produces a roster of 55 world cities at three levels: 10 Alpha world cities, 10 Beta world cities and 35 Gamma world cities. These are found to be largely geographically concentrated in three “globalization arenas”, northern America, western Europe and Pacific Asia.

Transnational elites in the city: British highly-skilled inter-company transferees in New York city's financial district

Highly-skilled professionals, who circulate within and between transnational corporations as inter-company transferees (ICTs), are important constituents of the global economic system. In Castells’ ‘Network Society’, such labour is referred to as ‘managerial elites’, but what remains invisible in this meta-narrative is their transnational existence. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to unpack further our understanding of transnational managerial elites by drawing upon a study of British highly-skilled ICTs who were posted from London to New York in the late 1990s. The paper is divided into four parts. Following a discussion of transnational managerial elites in globalisation, the paper highlights the transnational organisational and social networks of these ICTs in New York. The paper then revisits the conceptualisation of transnational managerial elites, suggesting that individual career paths, physical mobility and cross-border connections, ties and business/social networks (both physical and virtual) are key factors which reproduce traits of ‘transnationalism’ in the city. The paper concludes that major constituents of the transnationalism of managerial elites are the organisational and social networks that stretch across national boundaries, grounded in the translocal of the city.

Fashioning the City: Cultures of Consumption in Contemporary Urban Spaces

Abstract In this paper, we begin to unpack the cultural economies of urban regeneration in a former industrial quarter of a large English city, Nottinghams Lace Market. In this tightly defined urban space, the integration of culture and economic activity has been at the forefront of regeneration, and the area reveals a particular agglomeration of activities based around the production and consumption of fashion and design, media, architecture, and food and entertainment. Underpinning the revival of the area has been the development of defined networks of interlinked and embedded firms which cut across conventional production-consumption divides. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to explore the role of cultural production and consumption in contemporary urban regeneration. The piece begins with a theoretical discussion of the cultural economy of cities in the 1990s. We then introduce Nottinghams Lace Market as a cultural quarter of the city and report the findings of detailed interview work with a wide range of cultural intermediaries and consumers, discussing the roles played by both producers and consumers in the cultural renaissance of the Lace Market. We conclude by evaluating the viability of a simultaneous economic and cultural strategy for urban regeneration.

Towards Corporate Professionalization: The Case of Project Management, Management Consultancy and Executive Search

This article explores patterns of professionalization in a number of ‘new’ knowledge-based occupations: management consultancy, project management and executive headhunters. Against a general assumption in the literature that such occupations are unwilling and/ or incapable to professionalize, this article suggests how a professionalization project has indeed been in play within these occupational domains. Perhaps most interestingly, these occupations are developing a new pattern of ‘corporate’ professionalization which departs in significant ways from established paths and which is more appropriate for the specific knowledge-bases, occupational characteristics and historical circumstances of these occupations. Using semi-structured interviews with key institutional protagonists, the analysis identifies some new features of corporate professionalization, which despite differences in occupational structure and history, are common to the three professions under review and which may be relevant to a broader range of knowledge-based occupations. These include: organizational membership, client engagement, competence-based closure and internationalization. The article then proceeds to compare and contrast these new professionalization strategies and tactics with the more traditional processes followed by the established professions. Corporate professionalization, it is then argued, may present the basis for a new pattern of collective mobility and for a new understanding of professionalism in the 21st century. Cet article explore les modèles de professionnalisation dans un certain nombre de ‘nouvelles’ professions basées sur le savoir: conseil en management, gestion de projet et chasseur de têtes. Contrairement à l’idée généralement répandue dans la documentation qui veut que ces métiers soient réticents et/ou incapables de se professionnaliser, cet article suggère comment un projet de professionnalisation est en fait en place pour ces métiers. Le point probablement le plus intéressant est que ces métiers ont développé un nouveau modèle de professionnalisation ‘d’entreprise’ qui se distingue de plusieurs façons des méthodes établies et qui est plus approprié aux connaissances spécifiques, aux caractéristiques et aux circonstances historiques de ces métiers. Via des entretiens en partie structurés avec des acteurs institutionnels clés, notre analyse identifie de nouveaux aspects de la professionnalisation d’entreprise qui, en dépit de différences au niveau de la structure et de l’histoire des métiers, sont communs aux trois professions examinées et qui peuvent s’appliquer à une fourchette plus grande de métiers basés sur le savoir. Il s’agit de l’appartenance à une organisation, de la gestion de relations clients, de la clôture en fonction des compétences et de l’internationalisation. Nous comparons ensuite ces nouvelles stratégies et tactiques de professionnalisation aux processus plus traditionnels suivis par les professions établies. Il est ensuite soutenu que la professionnalisation d’entreprise peut présenter la base d’un nouveau modèle de mobilité collective et d’une nouvelle compréhension du professionnalisme au 21ème siècle. Este artículo explora los patrones de profesionalización en varias ocupaciones nuevas que se basan en el conocimiento: consultoría de gestión, gestión de proyecto y agentes de empleo para puestos ejecutivos. Contra una suposición general de que tales ocupaciones no están dispuestas a profesionalizarse y/o no lo pueden hacer, este artículo indica cómo ciertamente se ha llevado a cabo un proyecto de profesionalización dentro de estos dominios ocupacionales. Quizás lo más interesante es que estas ocupaciones están desarrollando un nuevo patrón de profesionalización ‘corporativa’ que se distancia de manera significativa del trayecto establecido y que es más apropiado para las características ocupacionales, circunstancias históricas y bases de conocimiento específicas de estas ocupaciones. Mediante entrevistas semi estructuradas con los protagonistas institucionales clave, nuestro análisis identifica algunas nuevas características de la profesionalización corporativa que, a pesar de sus diferencias en historia y estructura ocupacional, tienen algo en común con las tres profesiones sujetas a revisión y que podrían ser aplicables a una gama más amplia de ocupaciones basadas en el conocimiento. Estas características incluyen: membresía organizacional, compromiso con el cliente, cierre en base a la competencia e internacionalización. Luego procedemos a correlacionar y comparar estas nuevas tácticas y estrategias de profesionalización con los procesos más tradicionales adoptados por las profesiones establecidas. Se puede entonces argumentar que la profesionalización corporativa puede presentar la base para un nuevo patrón de movilidad colectiva y para un nuevo entendimiento del profesionalismo en el siglo 21.

Negotiating globalization, transnational corporations and global city financial centres in transient migration studies

Abstract Outside population geography, migration as a process ‘driving’ globalization has remained in the shadows of the globalization literature. Migration has only really been acknowledged by other social scientists as a globalization tendency in conceptualizing global cities. In this paper, we wish to extend our understanding of globalization and migration by linking together studies of transient professional migration, transnational corporations and global city financial centres. The paper is in three parts. First, we discuss transient migration as process in the globalization debate. Second, we review a series of qualitative methods that have extended our knowledge of globalization and transient professional migration. Third, we illustrate the importance of migration as a globalization tendency through an analysis of official international migration statistics and original research undertaken within transnational banks during the 1990s.

Attending to the world: Competition, cooperation and connectivity in the world city network

World Cities are acknowledged to be a key aspect of globalization. In many accounts, these cities are depicted as rivals in a global marketplace, their economic success a result of their competitive advantage. However, what has not been fully acknowledged is their connectivity and, in addition, the time and effort taken by specific ‘attendants’ to produce the World City network. Accordingly, this article aims to advance understanding of World City network formation by developing a conceptual model that focuses on four major attendants (firms, sectors, cities and states) that enact network formation through two nexuses —‘city-firm’ and ‘statesector’— and two communities —‘cities within states’ and ‘firms within sectors’. The utility of this model is demonstrated by drawing upon interviews conducted in offices of 39 advanced producer service firms in banking and law. These interviews were undertaken in three World Cities (London, New York and Singapore) in the wake of the East Asian financial crisis, an event that challenged the consistency of the World City network. Showing how attendants sought to maintain and transform the World City network at this key moment of crisis, we conclude that studies of city competitiveness ultimately need to focus on the cooperative work that sustains global networks.

Analysing the Changing Landscape of European Financial Centres: The Role of Financial Products and the Case of Amsterdam.

The turn of the twenty-first century saw the re-emergence of debates about the reconfiguration of European financial geographies and the role of stock exchange mergers in this process. There has been, however, no systematic attempt to date to analyse such changes. This paper proposes a specific conceptual framework to explore these issues. It uses a product-based analysis to examine, in the context of recent stock exchange mergers, the factors affecting the competitiveness of a financial centre. It argues that it is important to understand three intertwined influences - product complementarities, the nature of local epistemic communities, and regulation - and their contingent effects on change. This is exemplified by a tentative application of the framework to the case of Amsterdam in order to better understand its recent decline in competitiveness as a European financial centre.

Subcontracting the Accountant! Professional Labour Markets, Migration, and Organisational Networks in the Global Accountancy Industry

In this paper, the notion of the labour market is discussed within the context of international migration of skilled labour in the accountancy industry. The principal arguments reported are that the labour-market practices of large accountancy firms have restructured the demand for professional labour on a global scale. Accounting staff are subcontracted to their firms international office networks or multinational clients through secondment, transfer, or exchange procedures. Equally, those firms who are members of global accountancy networks subcontract their staff to the international independent member firms.

Servicing British Expatriate ‘Talent’ in Singapore: Exploring Ordinary Transnationalism and the Role of the ‘Expatriate’ Club

Singapore hosts many different expatriate communities. Whilst the working worlds of expatriates as transnational elites have been examined, little research has studied their ordinary life-experiences. Earlier research has noted that British expatriates were socially and culturally embedded within distinctive transnational social spaces like ‘expatriate’ clubs. This paper investigates the role of these clubs in serving the ordinary, professional, social and cultural experiences of British expatriates living in Singapore. The findings were derived from interviews with the General Managers of the British, Singapore Cricket, Hollandse, Pines, Swiss and Tanglin Clubs about their function in serving a British clientele; from interviews with 24 members of the British Club on its role in their everyday life; and from various club publications.

New insights into the internationalization of producer services:Organizational strategies and spatial economies for global headhunting firms

This paper uses the exemplar of global headhunting firms to provide new insights into the intricacies of internationalization and related ‘spatial economies’ of producer services in the world economy. In particular, we unpack the complex relationships between the organizational rationale for, the selected mode of, and future benefits gained by internationalization, as headhunting firms seek and create new geographical markets. We achieve this through an analysis of headhunting firm-specific case study data that detail the evolving way such firms organize their differential strategic growth (organic, merger and acquisition, and alliances/network) and forms (wholly owned, networked, or hybrid). We also highlight how, as elite labour market intermediaries, headhunted are important, yet understudied, actors within the (re)production of a ‘softer’, ‘knowledgeable’ capitalism. Our argument, exemplified through detailed mapping of the changing geographies of headhunting firms between 1992 and 2005, demonstrates the need for complex and blurred typologies of internationalization and similarly complex internationalization theory.