Global Networks, Knowledge Management and World Cities

Abstract

Global markets are revolutionising the basic concepts of research, manufacturing and marketing, and developing corporate networks based on competitive alliances. In global managerial economics, knowledge management thus becomes the crucial competitive factor, creating knowledge production hubs, particularly in cities with a high level of intangible consumption, where people, capital and ideas are concentrated (consumer hubs). The level of aggregation of knowledge production and intangible consumption classifies large conurbations with unconventional metrics, establishing new types of scales for ‘world cities’.