Location patterns of large firm headquarters and metropolitan settings

Firm headquarter location is of socio-territorial interest since it relates to relations of power and dependence between territories, with a progressive tendency towards globalization. The main objective is to identify some of the socio-territorial factors that determine location, based on the hypothetical importance attached to metropolitan areas and to capital cities. The empirical analysis relates to the decision-making centers of large firms and at the Level of subsidiary decision-making centers for secondary states (Spain). By doing this, the worldwide scale of large multinational companies will he compared with the performance of secondary territories, with regards to the distribution of main and subsidiary headquarters. The empirical base includes the 500 largest firms worldwide (fortune, 2005) and the 1000 largest companies in Spain for the secondary territories. The conclusion reached is that territorial concentration of political and economic power and international connections - in this order - are the three fundamental factors behind the decisions made regarding the location of both headquarters and subsidiaries. These are the conditions found almost exclusively in metropolitan areas, and more significantly in capital cities.