Producer service linkages and city connectivity in the mega-city region of China: A case study of the Pearl River Delta

Anthony GO Yeh, Fiona F Yang and Jiejing Wang
Additional contact information
Anthony GO Yeh: Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Fiona F Yang: Department of Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Jiejing Wang: Department of Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Urban Studies, 2015, vol. 52, issue 13, 2458-2482

Abstract: This paper examines the intra- and inter-firm producer service linkages and city connectivity of the Pearl River Delta (PRD), one of the fastest growing and globalising mega-city regions in China. The study reveals that the rapid growth of producer services in the recent two decades has emerged as a crucial contributor to the formation of the regional network that was previously shaped mainly by manufacturing activities. To provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of mega-city regions, a nexus between the literature on globalisation and mega-city regions and the studies on the service economy must be developed to consider not only intra-firm office connections, but also the linkages of producer services between different firms and economic sectors. Through a questionnaire survey covering 1020 producer service firms in three major PRD cities, we provide evidence that in a manner different from manufacturing activities, producer services linkages, both intra-firm and inter-firm, bind the cities into a hierarchical and localised regional system.

Keywords: inter-firm linkages; mega-city region; network formation; Pearl River Delta; producer services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098014544762 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:52:y:2015:i:13:p:2458-2482

DOI: 10.1177/0042098014544762

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().