Still in command and control? Hong Kong’s headquarters economy in the changing global and regional context

ABSTRACT

One of the defining features of being a global city is its attractiveness to transnational corporations and global business and professional service providers to set up their headquarters there. Such clustering of headquarters in global cities enhances its function of command and control of business and professional services. Upon survey data gathered by the HKSAR Government on non-local corporations' establishment of regional headquarters, regional offices, and local offices, this paper analyses Hong Kong's attractiveness and competitiveness as one of the key strategic sites for transnational corporations' coordination of business activities in Asia. We shall look at the trend of development before and after 1997. More importantly, we shall examine Hong Kong's future as an international and regional business hub in the context of the rise of China, the changing domestic conditions within the Special Administrative Region, and the impacts of COVID-19.