Crossing Regional Boundaries: World Cities as Springboards and Gateways for MNE Location Choices (WITHDRAWN).

This study examines the roles played by world cities in the location decisions of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the context of a semi-globalized world. The economic integration and interdependence of national markets is highest within regions, making cross-regional activities more difficult for MNEs to initiate and manage. We examine how MNEs extend their reach across regions using world cities, by examining the structural pattern of MNE headquarters-subsidiary affiliations worldwide and observing what roles world cities play in this structure. We use multidimensional scaling to investigate the structural pattern of subsidiary locations, and use factor analysis to identify the factors underlying how frequently specific cities play specific roles in this structure. Results show that world cities serve as springboards from which MNEs can expand into foreign regions from their home regions, and also gateways into foreign regions. By highlighting the roles of world cities in MNEs location choices, this study contributes to the literatures on location strategy and semi- globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]