The Rise of the Meta City

The playing field of corporate location is changing, driven by new digital technologies and the shift to remote work. The authors outline the structure and logic behind this tectonic shift in where and how businesses locate their offices and compete for talent. The common perception that large superstar cities are declining as workers and businesses spread across the map is too simplistic. The authors’ research identifies the rise of a new type of city, the “Meta City,” which combines elements of physical clustering with digital connectivity. Instead of becoming less important, corporate locational strategy becomes even more so. It entails selecting and managing across a portfolio of global locations for various functions, including corporate headquarters, innovation centers, and...

The playing field of corporate location is changing, driven by new digital technologies and the shift to remote work. The authors outline the structure and logic behind this tectonic shift in where and how businesses locate their offices and compete for talent. The common perception that large superstar cities are declining as workers and businesses spread across the map is too simplistic. The authors’ research identifies the rise of a new type of city, the “Meta City,” which combines elements of physical clustering with digital connectivity. Instead of becoming less important, corporate locational strategy becomes even more so. It entails selecting and managing across a portfolio of global locations for various functions, including corporate headquarters, innovation centers, and satellite offices — and more important, talent attraction and retention.