Cities as control and command centres: Analysis and interpretation

Using the Forbes2000 list of largest corporations for 2010, revenues generated by companies are aggregated for the cities in which they are headquartered. From this data cities are ranked by sector and overall. The main finding is how overwhelmingly well Tokyo does in this empirical exercise. This is despite Japan’s ‘economic miracle’ stalling two decades ago. We use Jane Jacobs interpretation of the role of large corporations to explain this contradiction.

► Revenues from all Forbes2000 corporations for 2010 are aggregated to headquarter cities.
► Analysis of cities shows Tokyo to be by far the most important headquarter city.
► Given that the Japanese economy stalled in 1991, this result requires explanation.
► Jane Jacobs ideas are used to understand Tokyo as globally the leading headquarter city within low growth Japanese economy.