Global corporate hierarchy in 22,000 cities: China vs. the world.

This study maps the parent-subsidiary ties of all multinational corporations in 2016 grossing $10 million and above by city location. This covers 22,312 cities, and over 200,000 parent-subsidiary connections. Social network analysis is used to create a unique centrality-based rankings of all cities consistent with the "world city hierarchy" frequently studied at the cross-section of global and urban sociology. Inference focuses on the traditional apex of the hierarchy (New York, London, Tokyo) versus the rapidly emergent, "Chinese triad" of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Findings show that Beijing maintains the national monopoly on multinational corporate headquarter locations while Shanghai has the most branch locations, and Hong Kong remains the "gateway" city for foreign capital penetration into mainland China, with the most overall ties. These findings are consistent with theoretical expectations regarding the specific global functions served by these cities according to extant literature. Findings also present compelling new evidence of the shift of transnational capital flows from West to East, with the "Chinese triad" among others having achieved near or even surpassing London and New York inter-city in corporate connectivity. Lastly, these findings provide an important baseline on which to investigate shifts in the world-system, particularly in the semi-periphery (China, Singapore, etc.) in the post-financial crisis era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]