IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/growch/v52y2021i1p12-28.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The brokerage role of small states and territories in global corporate networks

Author

Listed:
  • Kirsten Martinus
  • Thomas Sigler
  • Iacopo Iacopini
  • Ben Derudder

Abstract

Global economic activity is networked through cross‐national linkages between firm headquarters, branches, and subsidiaries. Brokerage emerges as a key territorial function of this network, with some places acting as gateways or intermediaries for flows of global knowledge, information, or trade. This function is particularly salient for small states and territories leveraging the benefits of borrowed size by offering global professional services, warehousing, logistics, shipping, and finance to wealthy nations or high net individuals. Nonetheless, to date our understanding of how small states and territories facilitate wealth accumulation is limited to broad concepts of their role as “gateways” or “brokers.” Drawing on a typology of brokerage and a network analysis applied to the ties between approximately 700,000 firm headquarter and subsidiary locations of 13 of the world's largest stock exchanges, we explore the brokerage role of small states and territories through case studies of Luxembourg, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Panama. Brokerage is found to play an important role in the economy of all four. We argue that each of these small states and territories is uniquely positioned as a broker in global corporate networks, but that this role differs according to geo‐economic and political positionality.

Suggested Citation

  • Kirsten Martinus & Thomas Sigler & Iacopo Iacopini & Ben Derudder, 2021. "The brokerage role of small states and territories in global corporate networks," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 12-28, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:growch:v:52:y:2021:i:1:p:12-28
    DOI: 10.1111/grow.12336
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12336
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/grow.12336?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keohane, Robert O., 1969. "Lilliputians' Dilemmas: Small States in Internatinal Politics," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 291-310, April.
    2. Jerome Vicente & Pierre Balland & Olivier Brossard, 2011. "Getting into Networks and Clusters: Evidence from the Midi-Pyrenean Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Collaboration Network," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(8), pages 1059-1078.
    3. Moritz Breul & Javier Revilla Diez & Maxensius Tri Sambodo, 2019. "Filtering strategic coupling: territorial intermediaries in oil and gas global production networks in Southeast Asia," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 829-851.
    4. Boari, Cristina & Riboldazzi, Federico, 2014. "How knowledge brokers emerge and evolve: The role of actors’ behaviour," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 683-695.
    5. Sayef Bakari, 2017. "The Three-Way Linkages Between Export, Import And Economic Growth: New Evidence From Tunisia," Journal of Smart Economic Growth, , vol. 2(3), pages 13-53, December.
    6. James T. Murphy, 2003. "Social space and industrial development in East Africa: deconstructing the logics of industry networks in Mwanza, Tanzania," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 173-198, April.
    7. Kirsten Martinus & Thomas J. Sigler, 2018. "Global city clusters: theorizing spatial and non-spatial proximity in inter-urban firm networks," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(8), pages 1041-1052, August.
    8. Dharmapala, Dhammika & Hines Jr., James R., 2009. "Which countries become tax havens?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(9-10), pages 1058-1068, October.
    9. Nicholas A. Phelps & Andrew Wood, 2006. "Lost in translation? Local interests, global actors and inward investment regimes," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 493-515, August.
    10. Cristina Boari & F. Xavier Molina-Morales & Luis Martínez-Cháfer, 2017. "Direct and Interactive Effects of Brokerage Roles on Innovation in Clustered Firms," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 336-358, September.
    11. Sayef Bakari & Mohamed Mabrouki, 2017. "Impact Of Exports And Imports On Economic Growth: New Evidence From Panama," Journal of Smart Economic Growth, , vol. 2(1), pages 67-79, March.
    12. Jeffrey S. Boggs & Norma M. Rantisi, 2003. "The 'relational turn' in economic geography," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 109-116, April.
    13. Lohmann, Guilherme & Albers, Sascha & Koch, Benjamin & Pavlovich, Kathryn, 2009. "From hub to tourist destination – An explorative study of Singapore and Dubai's aviation-based transformation," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 205-211.
    14. Kirkels, Yvonne & Duysters, Geert, 2010. "Brokerage in SME networks," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 375-385, April.
    15. Andrea Lancichinetti & Filippo Radicchi & José J Ramasco & Santo Fortunato, 2011. "Finding Statistically Significant Communities in Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(4), pages 1-18, April.
    16. Javier Garcia-Bernardo & Jan Fichtner & Eelke M. Heemskerk & Frank W. Takes, 2017. "Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers: Conduits and Sinks in the Global Corporate Ownership Network," Papers 1703.03016, arXiv.org, revised May 2017.
    17. Gordon,Roger & Sarada,, 2019. "The Role of the Corporate Tax," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108747998.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sören Scholvin & Moritz Breul & Javier Revilla Diez & Andrés Rodríguez Pose, 2021. "Introduction: Nodes in global networks," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 4-11, March.
    2. Ronen Palan & Hannah Petersen & Richard Phillips, 2023. "Arbitrage spaces in the offshore world: Layering, ‘fuses’ and partitioning of the legal structure of modern firms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(4), pages 1041-1061, June.
    3. Zádor, Zsófia & Zhu, Zhen & Smith, Matthew & Gorgoni, Sara, 2022. "A weighted and normalized Gould–Fernandez brokerage measure," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 37794, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    4. Carlos Bianchi & Pablo Galaso & Sergio Palomeque, 2023. "Knowledge complexity and brokerage in inter-city networks," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 1773-1799, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ilwon Seo, 2019. "Regions’ Technology Brokerage Patterns and Dynamics for Regional Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Kirsten Martinus & Thomas Sigler & Iacopo Iacopini & Ben Derudder, 2019. "The role of tax havens and offshore financial centers in Asia-Pacific networks: evidence from firm-subsidiary connections," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 389-411, November.
    3. José Antonio Belso-Martínez & Manuel Expósito-Langa & Francisco Mas-Verdú & F. Xavier Molina-Morales, 2017. "Dynamics of Brokerage Positions in Clusters: Evidence from the Spanish Foodstuffs Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-18, February.
    4. José-Antonio Belso-Martínez & Manuel Expósito-Langa, 2015. "Persistence and extinction of brokerage roles in clusters: the role of status, former experiences and extra-cluster relationships," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1501, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2015.
    5. Menkhoff, Lukas & Miethe, Jakob, 2019. "Tax evasion in new disguise? Examining tax havens' international bank deposits," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 176, pages 53-78.
    6. Sayef Bakari, 2017. "The Impact of Vegetables Exports on Economic Growth in Tunisia," Economic Research Guardian, Weissberg Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 72-87, December.
    7. Franz Reiter & Dominika Langenmayr & Svea Holtmann, 2021. "Avoiding taxes: banks’ use of internal debt," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(3), pages 717-745, June.
    8. Sébastien Laffitte & Farid Toubal, 2018. "Firms, Trade and Profit Shifting: Evidence from Aggregate Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 7171, CESifo.
    9. Mkadmi, Jamel Eddine & Bakari, Sayef & Msai, Achwak, 2021. "Assessing the Impact of Tax Policies on Economic Growth in Tunisia: New Empirical and Policy Analysis," MPRA Paper 109023, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Bakari, Sayef, 2017. "Why is South Africa Still a Developing Country?," MPRA Paper 80763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Delatte, Anne-Laure & Guillin, Amelie & Vicard, Vincent, 2022. "Grey zones in global finance: The distorted geography of cross-border investments," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    12. Sayef Bakari & Sofien Tiba, 2022. "Agricultural Exports, Agricultural Imports And Economic Growth In China," Journal of Smart Economic Growth, , vol. 7(3), pages 35-61, September.
    13. Bakari, Sayef & Fakraoui, Nissar & Mabrouki, Mohamed, 2020. "The Contribution of Domestic Investment, Exports and Imports on Economic Growth: A Case Study of Peru," MPRA Paper 99041, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Sayef Bakari & Mohamed Mabrouki, 2017. "The Effect Of Agricultural Exports On Economic Growth In South-Eastern Europe: An Empirical Investigation Using Panel Data," Journal of Smart Economic Growth, , vol. 2(4), pages 49-64, December.
    15. Sayef Bakari & Mohamed Mabrouki & Abdelhafidh Othmani, 2018. "The Six Linkages Between Foreign Direct Investment, Domestic Investment, Exports, Imports, Labor Force And Economic Growth: New Empirical And Policy Analysis From Nigeria," Journal of Smart Economic Growth, , vol. 3(1), pages 25-43, Juin.
    16. Sayef Bakari & Mohamed Mabrouki, 2019. "The Relationship Between Economic Growth, Exports And Imports In Morocco: An Empirical Validation Based On Var Modeling Techniques And Causality In The Meaning Of Granger," Journal of Smart Economic Growth, , vol. 4(3), pages 47-55, December.
    17. triyawan, andi, 2022. "Does Investment, Zakat, Infak and Shadaqah and Inflation Infuence the Economic Growth?: Evidence from Indonesia," OSF Preprints rk5n9, Center for Open Science.
    18. Sayef Bakari & Mohamed Mabrouki & Asma Elmakki, 2018. "The Nexus Between Industrial Exports And Economic Growth In Tunisia: Empirical Analysis," Journal of Smart Economic Growth, , vol. 3(2), pages 31-53, December.
    19. Bakari, Sayef & El Weriemmi, Malek & Mabrouki, Mohamed, 2022. "The Impact of Digitalization and Trade Openness on Economic Growth: New Evidence from Richest Asian Countries," MPRA Paper 113816, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Bakari, Sayef & Khalfallah, Sirine & Zidi, Ahmed, 2021. "The Determinants of Agricultural Exports: Empirical Validation for the Case of Tunisia," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 9(3), October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:growch:v:52:y:2021:i:1:p:12-28. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0017-4815 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.