Geography of reputation:: The city as the locus of business opportunity

Geography of reputation: the city as the locus of business opportunity, Regional Studies 41, 949 - 961. The paper discusses the limits of current cluster theory and theorizes trans- local network externalities as an important cause for the urban agglomeration of knowledge services. A survey of management consulting firms in the metropolitan region of Frankfurt demonstrates that the benefit of co- location in the city lies in the access to reputation networks rather than in the exploitation of local value chain linkages. The city is a locus of opportunity because firms in the city have a higher share of distant clients and because distant clients are won more often through referrals. Cities are reputational nodes for trans- local business development.