SPATIAL IMPACTS OF AGGLOMERATION EXTERNALITIES*

ABSTRACT This article examines the extent to which agglomeration economies in one location affect employment growth and establishment births, using data from the Dutch province of South‐Holland. The data are of particular interest because they represent a census, rather than a sample, of all establishments and the location of establishments can be pinpointed to within 416 (postal) zip code areas averaging less than 6 km² in size. Results suggest that agglomeration economies positively affect employment growth and the location of new establishments, but with the possible exception of manufacturing, this effect dies out quickly with distance. Thus, the main finding is that for many industries, agglomerative forces may well operate at a geographic scale that is smaller than a city.     

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRAVEL: SOME EXPLORATIONS

International business travel is now an omnipresent feature of working life for many millions of people around the globe. Whatever the organizational reason, it is now the likelihood that many individuals are engaged in undertaking work outside of the formal workplace in an irregular pattern which has become an almost ordinary aspect of their working-life. Such is the magnitude of international business travel that it is now highly significant for bringing multi-million dollar expenditure to countries and the global airline and hotel sectors, and supporting an international business travel management industry. Yet, surprisingly, little has been written on the agency of international business travel, beyond vignettes of the organizational requirement for physical proximity. In this introduction (and special issue) we consider what further academic analyses of business travel must do to extend knowledge and understanding of the growth and use of travel in the twenty-first century. The article is in five parts. First, we consider the function of international business travel in firms as part of strategies to tie-together spatially distributed subsidiaries. Second, we unpack the modes and spaces of business travel. Third, we discuss the impacts of business travel on both the traveller, but also the environment. Fourth, we introduce the major arguments and contributions of the four articles in this special issue. Finally, we identify future research agendas that should develop existing theory and understanding of the compulsion for international business travel.