Telecommunications and the Globalization of Financial Services∗

Abstract

Financial services are undergoing a major period of internationalization. National markets are interlinked by telecommunications, a process induced through deregulation and new communications technologies. This paper reviews the recent, intertwined trends in the finance and telecommunications industries in light of urban and regional restructuring theory, cites several company-specific examples, explores the impacts on the international urban hierarchy and the labor process (e.g., back offices), and assesses the role of teleports. Finally, it offers an agenda for further research.

Globalisation, information technology and the emergence of niche transnational cities: the growth of the call centre sector in Dublin

“…More recently, there has been growing interest in the relocation of back-o ce workers out of metropolitan regions altogether to more remote locations (Castells, 1989;Howland, 1993;Warf, 1989). Increasingly, such movements have involved overseas destinations, motivated primarily by the prospect of accessing labour supplies which are both cheaper and frequently of higher quality (in terms of training, reliability and motivation) than those available in the home country.…”

Information technology and urban spatial structure: A comparative analysis of the Chicago and Seoul regions

“…For this reason, some of the empirically driven analysis related to this topic has focused on the intermetropolitan context. Some examples include telecommunication and the transition of regional (Alles et al 1994;Wheeler and Mitchelson 1989) or the global urban hierarchy and urban systems (Warf 1989) and the Internet network and the accessibilities of cities (Wheeler and O'Kelly 1999).…”

Information Technology, Gender Segmentation and the Relocation of Back Office Employment: The Growth of the Teleservices Sector in Ireland

“…The rst of these has been the reorganization (mainly in the 1950s and 1960s) of of ce work, which created a new technical division of labour among of ce workers -the most central element of which has been the clear distinction between decision-making and routine execution tasks (Greenbaum 1995). The second has been the development of new information technology that allows both a high degree of automation of information processing and the integration of remotely-located back offices with either head offices or the outside world through high-speed and high-volume telecommunications networks (Nelson 1986;Warf 1989;Graham and Marvin 1996).…”

“…More recently, there has been a growing tendency to relocate routine of ce work out of metropolitan regions altogether to more remote locations (Castells 1989;Warf 1989;Howland 1993). Again, the main motivating factor involved has been the search for locations with lower land costs and cheap but diligent labour, prepared to put up with the routine, boring and demanding work that these activities entail.…”