The Geography of Corporate Services: A Case Study of the New York Urban Region

This paper analyzes the spatial organization of corporate (also known as producer) services within the greater New York urban region. It examines employment growth trends for individual business, financial, and professional services, the headquarters locations of the largest corporate service firms, and the market linkages of corporate service firms and their clients. Certain corporate service activities have suburbanized far more than others. Suburban- based corporate service firms tend to be associated with local or regional markets or, to a lesser extent, with data processing and other back office operations. Manhattan-based firms serve the region's largest corporations, cater to national and international markets, and are often linked with particular agglomeration economies.