Other competing metrics have also grown in popularity throughout the 21st century, including the Foreign Policy’s Global Cities Index, Global Power City Index, and The Economist’s Global City Competitiveness Index. The GaWC then accounts for the number of connections between firms, concluding that cities with the most international business ties are “global”. These rankings are determined by the strength of a city’s accounting, advertising, finance and legal service sectors. In their annual reports, the GaWC rank cities as either alpha, beta or gamma-level world cities. Since 1998, the Globalisation and World Cities ( GaWC) think-tank has produced one of the more popular metrics for ranking global cities. Around the world, urban centres seek to become global cities, or hubs of commerce and trade. The Amazon story serves as a microcosm for larger trends.
Thus, by opening the door to Amazon, cities around North America seek to jump-start their economies, hoping to cause a snowball effect that would lead to more corporate investment and growth. However, particularly for smaller cities, the possibility of hosting the Amazon HQ2 presents a novel opportunity to increase their prominence on the world stage. If selected, Amazon promises its potential host city 50,000 high-paying jobs. Fresno, on the other hand, would allow Amazon to have unprecedented control over the city’s urban planning, allowing the corporation direct infrastructure for its own benefit. These humorous proposals, however, distract from some of the more concerning bids Chicago, for example, offered to return 50-100% of all income taxes payed by Amazon employees back to Amazon itself. Tucson, on the other hand, personally gifted Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos a 6-metre-tall cactus. Calgary, for example, on a billboard in Seattle, offered to “ fight a bear” for Amazon. As cities attempted to out-do each other, each proposal became more outlandish than the last. Within weeks, dozens of cities across Canada and the United States rushed to submit proposals, enamoured by the possibility of hosting one of the world’s top 10 companies within their borders.
In September of 2017, online retailer Amazon announced that it would be expanding its operations by opening a second headquarters.
0 kommentar(er)
