Alongside immigration rules, global reputation affects a city’s ability to attract talented people too: London’s agglomeration of businesses and services is dependent upon its ability to do this. Perceptions of the UK’s attractiveness as a destination for FDI have declined amongst investors, who expect a further decline over the coming years.ġ17 Whilst London appears to be managing to keep a global reputation separate from that of its nation state, there is a clear risk that the city’s outward-looking image is being damaged – and previous Centre for London research has highlighted the perils of London’s divergence from the rest of the UK. However, it is hard to quantify the scale of opportunities and potential investments that are being missed. Even if HQs are staying put, new strategic corporate functions may move elsewhere.
Beyond the direct loss of jobs in London, new HQs will likely attract some of the public affairs activities of financial service and pharmaceutical firms.Īnd regulatory uncertainty means that businesses – and not just in financial services – are cautious about committing their futures to London. The loss of European regulators, such as the European Medicines Agency and European Banking Authority, represents the most visible and non-negotiable loss of some HQ activity brought about by the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. Being an ‘HQ City’ continues to have huge value for a global city like London. But even the ‘slimlined’ head office, home to the bare minimum of decision-makers (and increasingly becoming the norm for modern HQs), still brings huge economic and agglomeration benefits, not to mention the symbolic value of a city’s competitiveness. The ‘consolidated’ HQ model pursued by major international tech companies means that capturing an HQ brings a large number of high-skilled, well paid jobs to a city. That said, the nature of corporate HQs is changing, and so are the types of sectors interested in London. It is repeatedly ranked one of the most attractive cities for HQ investment in the world, and multinationals have overwhelmingly chosen London as their European HQ. London’s position as an ‘HQ City’ is impressive.
0 kommentar(er)
