HALLAZGOS MANOMETRICOS INTRAOPERATORIOS EN EL GRUPO

Research in world cities literature has utilized various databases and sources. Friedmann’s World City Hypothesis mainly depended on the number of headquarters of transnational corporations compiled from secondary sources (Friedmann 1995b). Sassen’s (Sassen 1991, 2001b) and

Castells’ analysis mostly depended on secondary data from international organizations such as OECD (Financial Market Trends, Statistics on International Transactions), IMF (Balance of Payments and Statistics Yearbook), UNCTAD (World Investment Report). They compiled annual reports on capital and trade (export and import) flows between nation-states. National sources such as Census Databases (e.g.: U.S. Census—Survey of Current Businesses, Japan Statistical Yearbook, UK Census) of different countries, Bank for International Settleme nts (Annual Reports), and private sources such as Fortune 500, Wall Street Journal and various business and law directories were also utilized in world cities literature.

Relational data between cities was more difficult to gather due to the difficulties in collecting information at that level. Most of the available data identifying global flows of capital, people, and trade of goods were at the national level (Taylor 2004). In terms of relationa l data, the UN’s source called Official Airline Guide in Demographic Yearbook offered flight statistics between cities (Keeling 1995), which was utilized to analyze global flows of people. Also, some authors conducted studies with data from international couriers such as Federal Express to analyze the global flows of goods between cities (Michelson and Wheeler in Castells 2000, 412). In this research, the company data required should identify the service industry that the company belongs to, the exact locations of companies with addresses for geocoding, and the function of the office. The following sub-sections will explain the data sources used in this research to identify the APS TNCs to be studied.

3.4.1.1. Identifying Industries

As discussed in the company selection criteria, the industries identified as producer and

study. Thus, there are ten industries: accountancy, advertising, banking/finance, design

consultancy, insurance, IT, law, logistical services, management consultancy, and real estate. All of these sectors are coded in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) of the Economic Census. In order to reach the individual companies, it is necessary to find the NAICS codes for the listed sectors.

The NAICS was developed in 1997 to replace the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). NAICS is a numeric coding system of all industries including manufacturing and services. It has different levels of coding. It starts with two digit identification of sectors and goes up to six digits identification of very specific industries. NAICS includes 1,170 industries of which 565 are service-based industries (U.S. Census Bureau 2007). As shown in Table 3.3, the ten sectors studied in this research are included under six two-digit industry codes in the NAICS. Appendix A includes all the six digit NAICS codes analyzed in this research. SIC and NAICS codes are highly utilized in many reserach projects that describe industry and company related trends (Feser, et al. 2005).

Table 3.3 NAICS Codes and APS Industries Studied

Two-digit NAICS code for the industry

Industry Description APS sectors included

48-49 Transportation and

Warehousing

Logistics

51 Information IT

52 Finance and Insurance Finance, Insurance

53 Real Estate Rental and

Leasing

Real Estate

54 Professional, Scientific, and

Technical Services

Accountancy, Legal, Design Consultancy, Advertsing and

Marketing, Management Consultancy, IT

55 Management of Companies

and Enterprises

Management Consultancy and Finance

3.4.1.2. Identifying Companies

Companies in this research are identified from the Business and Company Resource Center Database by Thompson & Gale. The Business & Company Resource Center offers business information and company and industry intelligence on thousands of companies. The Business and Company Resource Center brings together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company historie s, chronologies and periodicals. Companies are listed are ranked according to their global or office sales. There is a search engine that allows the firms to be searched according to their locations, financial data, and SIC and NAICS codes (Gale Group 2003).

The Business & Company Resource Center provides business, company, and industry content in the following areas: periodical articles, news articles, and press releases, detailed information for domestic and international companies and associations, company financials and earning

estimates, investment reports, corporate chronologies and company histories, brands and product information, industry and company rankings, market share data, industry overviews, HR law case digests (Gale Group 2003). Thompson and Gale do not reveal their methodology in terms of collecting data, they just provide a list of resources that they use in forming their company list.

In this research, companies are selected from The Business & Company Resource Center database by using the six-digit NAICS codes identified as in Appendix A. Selecting the companies from one source defines a systematic selection process. The limitations of the Business & Company Resource Center database mean that, the companies that they do not

include in their database cannot be included in this research. After identifying the two-digit NAICS codes for the industries, the next step is to identify the companies listed under specific six-digit NAICS Codes. For each NAICS code selected, the top 10% of the firms listed are selected. Business and Company Resource Center lists the firms according to their total assets or sales/operating revenue. The six digit NAICS Codes can be found in Appendix A. In the selected top 10 percent of the firms, from the website of each company and their transnational character was identified. The selection criteria of being transnational are as follows:

1- Transnational companies should have branches operated by the company itself in all three regions of the global triad (subsidiaries are not included).

2- They should be headquartered in one of these regions (Asia, Europe, North America). 3- They should have at least 5 offices located globally, with one or more office in each

region of the global triad.

After identifying the companies from their websites, the next step was to identify they have offices in the 10 cities studied. Office addresses and office functions are recorded. Office functions are recorded as branch, national headquarter, regional headquarter, or global

headquarter. If the office function is not mentioned, they are recorded as branches. The company list with the names of the companies are given in Appendix A. In the end, 614 firms are

Table 3.4 Number of Firms in the Selected APS Industries

Industry Number of Firms

IT 189

Finance and Banking 85

Management Consultancy 61

Design Consultancy (Architecture and Engineering)

57

Advertising and Marketing 56

Logistics firms 55 Law 49 Insurance 35 Accountancy 17 Real Estate 13 TOTAL 617