Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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the most global cities of the world. Underlying this research is the notion
that globalisation and economic restructuring have led to specialisation of
economic functions, and that certain cities have managed to dominate global
economic activity in certain sectors. A classic example is the finance sector,
in which London, New York and Tokyo have become the prime global cities
(Sassen, 1991). Although these analyses do not assess urban
competitiveness per se, the global position of a city has economic relevance:
global cities concentrate the activities in places where the highest value
added is generated and more easily attract highly skilled foreign workers.
Methods that have been used to rank global cities include the presence of the
largest global firms for advanced services and their different regional offices
over the different cities in the world. Copenhagen is not one of the key
global cities: neither in the first tier, of London and New York, nor in the
second, which include Frankfurt and Paris, nor the third tier, which includes
Amsterdam, Brussels and Zurich. Copenhagen in this world city network
has been described as an important ―outer‖ European city (Taylor and
Derudder, 2004). Copenhagen ranks as the 47 th most globally connected
city, far behind Amsterdam, Stockholm and Dublin, but before Hamburg
and Munich. 14
Businesses in Copenhagen are less internationally oriented than in
several other metropolitan areas in the OECD. A study of Nordic cities
shows that internationally oriented industries in Copenhagen account for a
slightly lower share of employment than in Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo and
Hamburg (FORA 2008). Another indication of internationally strong
specialisations can also be acquired from the presence of offices of global
services firms. In a ranking of the top 50 cities that have global services
firms with most international offices, Copenhagen scores 47 th . In the finance
and law sectors, Copenhagen is not even in the top 50. It does, however,
rank in accounting (24 th ) and advertising (13 th ).
Table 1.8. Presence of offices of international advanced services firms in
selected OECD metropolitan regions
Rank Total Accounting Advertising Finance Law
1 New York London London London New York
2 London Dusseldorf New York New York Washington, DC
3 Paris New York Brussels Hong Kong London
4 Hong Kong Paris Madrid Singapore Los Angeles
5 Tokyo Tokyo Sydney Tokyo Paris
6 Los Angeles Toronto Toronto Frankfurt San Francisco
7 Singapore Chicago Milan Paris Hong Kong
8 Frankfurt Milan Paris Zurich Brussels
9 Milan Sydney Los Angeles Sydney Moscow