Mapping producer services networks in mainland Chinese cities

Abstract

We analyse the geographies of urban networks created by leading producer services (PS) firms in China. Because of the national regulation of the Chinese state-led economy and the location strategies of global advanced producer services (APS) firms, the geography of global APS in China as examined by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) cannot be studied as a subnetwork of GaWC's global network, but needs an empirical study based on a wide range of leading PS in the Chinese market. We explore the spatial differentiation in the connectivity of Chinese cities based on the location strategies of 323 APS firms in 287 Chinese cities. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen emerge as the primary nodes. The spatial distribution of banking, securities, and insurance services networks appears to be more even than those of non-financial PS firms. Regional disparity exists in terms of polycentric urban development in coastal China, as well as in the centralisation model in central and western areas. We suggest that owing to the continued tight regulation of China's state-led economy and the nature of the location strategies of 'globalised' PS firms, the urban networks created by Chinese PS firms are not only an extension of urban networks at a global scale but also an embodiment of economic activities at other scales.

An Analysis of the Determinants of the Multiplex Urban Networks in the Yangtze River Delta

“…On the other hand, cities’ economic abilities decide their fixed (transport) infrastructure investments, and this in turn further facilitates intercity business connections and human flows. The fundamental role of cities’ economic size in shaping network formation has also been evidenced in the existing literature on mapping urban networks in mainland China: despite adopting varied lenses such as producer services, air passenger transport, high speed railways passenger flows and human intercity trips (Wang et al ; Liu et al ; Zhao et al ), economic centres are always found to be the most connected cities in these urban networks.…”

Spatial Evolution of Producer Service Sectors and Its Influencing Factors in Cities: A Case Study of Hangzhou, China

“…Spatial distribution modes of producer service sectors are influenced by a variety of factors of agglomeration and diffusion at different spatial scales by different industries [9][10][11][12]. In the early stage of development of metropolises, scholars studied the location characteristics of service industries from the perspective of accessibility, transaction cost, land rentals, and information services [13].…”

“…Several empirical studies were conducted with the advent of city globalization after the 1990s. For example, scholars studied the decentralization conditions of different service sectors and office space at regional scales [14][15][16][17], and the connection pattern of producer service sectors between different cities [11,12]. In the inner scale of cities, changes in service sectors in different CBDs were discussed [12].…”

The Changing Geography of Domestic Financial City Network in China, 1995–2015

“…Scholars have also examined the positions, trends, and prospects of key cities located in a specific region and particularly those of China in the world city network based on the interlocking networks of global advanced producer services (Brown, Catalano, and Taylor ; Derudder et al ; Hoyler ; Shi and Hamnett ; Taylor ; Taylor ; Taylor et al ). Furthermore, some scholars have started to map the producer services networks in a specific region based on a combination of global PS firms with a presence in the specific region as well as major domestic PS firms to show up more local cities (Beaverstock et al ; Yang and Yeh ; Zhao et al ).…”