International business, cities and competitiveness: recent trends and future challenges
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explain how thinking regarding multinationals, competitiveness and location in cities has evolved over the past five decades and how our current understanding and thinking about future challenges is contingent on these previous shifts.
Design/methodology/approach
The design of the paper is a conceptual piece linking different theoretical strands.
Findings
Global cities are not always necessarily the key locations for future multinational investments. It depends on the activities taking place. Knowledge and technology and how they interact with the firm’s capabilities and objectives are crucial.
Research limitations/implications
The implications are that future multinational location choices will be driven by diversity, demography, protectionism, automation and industrial policy.
Originality/value
This paper provides a roadmap for scholars in the international business and competitiveness fields to understand the current and future challenges facing multinationals and their location behavior.
Keywords
Citation
Iammarino, S., McCann, P. and Ortega-Argilés, R. (2018), "International business, cities and competitiveness: recent trends and future challenges", Competitiveness Review, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 236-251. https://doi.org/10.1108/CR-10-2017-0070
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited