The leading cities of the world and their competitive advantages. The perception of 'citymakers'

The leading cities of the world and their competitive advantages. The perception of 'citymakers'

economics, ranking, urban culture, world city, image

In a globalizing world, with borders becoming blurred and international competition increasing, cities need to be constantly aware of their own international competitive position. Whereas enterprises can strengthen their position through takeovers, mergers, or joint ventures, cities cannot. Cities can only try to make the most of their competitive advantages. A city with international ambitions has to be able to face the challenge of international competition, and therefore must have insight into its international profile. Which local factors make cities important, prominent, trend-setting, leading? For the national level, Michael Porter paved the way with his standard work The Competitive Advantages of Nations (1990), in which he introduced his famous ‘national diamond.’ Surprisingly, though, no such substantial research exists on cities, let alone that a ‘city diamond’ has been developed. To address these issues, the perceptions of ‘citymakers’ – the companies and institutions which contribute to the international profile of a city – were collected during the period 1998–2001. Based on the responses from more than 1300 of these ‘citymakers’ from 80 cities around the world, a ‘city diamond’ has been designed. The data from the study have also been used to rank cities according to the esteem in which they are held in the world: as a whole (integral perception) and also on the basis of ten different functions (functional perception) – Performing Arts (Symphony Music, Opera, Ballet), Academia, Corporate Services, Real Estate & Architecture, Museums, International Organizations, Hospitality (hotels, congresses, tourism), International Trade & Transport, Media, and Multinationals & Finance. Finally, the data have been used to portray the competitive profiles of the 32 most important cities.

Grosveld, Harry

Universiteit van Amsterdam

2002

Lambooy, J. G. Promotor

en

Thesis

http://dare.uva.nl/record/106643

http://lallier.msh-vdl.fr/theses/items/show/917

http://lallier.msh-vdl.fr/theses/archive/files/07e6b5873a672bee0eb9bb66e9c31117.jpg