Spatial Distribution Pattern of the Headquarters of Listed Firms in China

Ling Zhang,Hui Zhang,Hao Yang

doi:10.3390/su10072564

Ling Zhang, Hui Zhang + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072564

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Abstract

This study chose 4667 listed firms with headquarters in China as the research objects. The spatial aggregations of headquarters in sub-periods and subsectors were investigated based on prefecture-level cities using Global Moran’s I statistic, the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic, and kernel density estimation. The spatial association and frequent patterns of headquarters belonging to different sectors were analyzed using the Apriori algorithm. The results showed the following: (1) Most headquarters of listed firms agglomerate around megacities and concentrate in the coastal regions. (2) Many prefer that headquarters be located in an area within a 5 km radius, forming the pivotal local industry cluster. (3) Industrial, information technology, and consumer discretionary firms show a higher degree of agglomeration than materials and health care firms. Materials and consumer discretionary industries have a stronger spillover effect on surrounding cities compared to industrial, information technology, and health care firms. (4) Service industries show a strong spatial association with other sectors at all distance thresholds and frequent items. These results can provide a reference for future considerations of headquarters locations, industrial development, and the reshaping of urban networks.

Highlights

A market is composed of a large number of small firms and a small number of large firms [1]
The headquarters of listed firms are the commanding centers of an economy, and their locations can have a major influence on urban structure and local economic growth
The spatial distribution of listed firms reflects the patterns of economic development and the spatial distribution of resources in a district

Summary

Introduction

A market is composed of a large number of small firms and a small number of large firms [1]. A very small number of large firms account for most of the economic output and are crucial to the development of the regional economy [4]. Analyzing the behavior of microeconomic entities, especially large-scale or strategically important companies, can enable a better understanding of the macroeconomy. Cities in which more headquarters of large firms are located are often considered the “commanding” centers of the economy, occupying a dominant strategic and economic position [16]. The headquarters of listed firms can be considered an ideal research object for microeconomic studies, and the location and behavior of these headquarters have drawn a great deal of attention from both the public and private sectors [17]

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