Where are the Web factories: The urban bias of e-business location

The Internet has been considered the great equaliser for business, allowing distant locals to compete with large metropolitan regions. Recent research points to a different geography, where domains and connectivity cluster predominantly in large urban areas. The question remains, are new businesses of the Internet economy doing the same or avoiding metropolitan areas? This paper examines the head and branch locations of the top 40 e–business integration firms in the USA. The analysis of the distribution of these locations will provide insight to what regions most benefit from the Internet economy. Further, the data should provide a useful comparison to metropolitan trends for domain and connectivity agglomeration.

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