The interplay between location and strategy in a turbulent age

ABSTRACT

Research Summary: The spread of protectionist policies and the COVID-19 pandemic force policymakers and managers to fundamentally rethink the relationship between location and strategy. We examine this location-strategy interplay through a structure-agency perspective by investigating how the economic landscape shapes and, simultaneously, is shaped by firm strategies. Increasing spatial disparity and diversity of innovation and wealth in clusters and city-regions create both tremendous challenges and opportunities for multinational enterprises to strategically leverage knowledge over space. Locational choices and actions of multinationals, in turn, affect regional economic development paths and geographies of innovation. We argue for deep dialogue and collaboration between economic geography, international business and strategy to untie the knots in the intricate interplay between location and strategy and solve the grand challenges in our turbulent age. Managerial Summary: The wide spread of protectionism and the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted global value chains unprecedently, forcing policymakers and firm managers to rethink the relationship between business strategies and locations. We suggest that this relationship can be understood in a bilateral way. The concentration of innovation and economic activities in city-regions and clusters creates big challenges but also tremendous opportunities for multinational enterprises. Multinationals need to direct knowledge across space but also have to deal with local resistance and opposition. The choices and actions of these firms are shaped by and, simultaneously, influence spatial patterns of economic activities. We argue for deep collaboration between economic geographers and international business scholars to solve the grand challenges for business, community and society in our turbulent time. © 2022 Strategic Management Society.