Innovative Industry Sectors in World Economic Centers

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the geographic distribution of key corporate headquarters’ locations – and changes therein – for innovative sector corporations. The paper attempts to identify innovative sectors in world economic centers throughout the world and discuss contemporary processes affecting changes in their hierarchy.Design/methodology/approach: The analysis in the paper uses data obtained from the "Forbes Global 2000" list of corporations aggregated at the level of major metropolitan areas home to major corporate headquarters. The "innovativeness index for cities" is based on the financial potential index for innovative sector companies (acronym: FPIS), which is calculated using selected economic and financial data such as return on assets, return on sales, and company market value. In addition, the index is also based on the number of corporate headquarters per city. Findings: Therefore, in spite of globalization and relocation of production, the largest revenue growth is still recorded by companies headquartered in the United States, which is particularly evident in the case of San Jose. A significant decrease of the importance of the innovative sector was recorded by the Japanese World Economic Centers, and especially that of Tokyo. In Asia, a few newer innovation centers such as Hong Kong, Bangalore, and New Delhi have emerged in the last few years, while several U.S. cities have declined substantially in terms of their role in the innovative sector.Research/practical implications: The analysis of the impact of innovative sectors on the development of world economic centers will show their importance in the generation of the command and control function of cities in the event of economic crisis.Originality/value: The issue of the command and control function of cities created by corporations headquarters their international conectivities are point of interest for several years. The new concept is, the idea of World Economic Center where the city has strong command and control function, even in the main industry sector economic crisis. This study shows the impact of innovative sector to the world economic center cities power.