Concentration and dispersion in global industries : remote electronic access and the location of economic activities

We explore how the possibility of remote electronic access to markets, resources and knowledge, enabled by the new information and communication technologies (ICTs), might change the motivations of firms to locate activities internationally, and in turn affect world-wide dispersion and concentration in an industry. Preliminary results from an exploratory analysis of the spatial distribution of firms in financial services suggest that the introduction of a business-to-business (B2B) trading network increases the global market participation of firms from peripheral countries, but does not appear to reduce the importance of locational clusters. A set of propositions is derived that provide guidance for more detailed research on the impact of ICTs on the strategy and structure of global industries.