Does taken-for-granted technology challenge firm location theories? A micro-spatial analysis of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS)

Abstract

The paper studies the location decisions of new knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) in between 2011 and 2020 in the Montreal metropolitan area; it explores whether classical location factors and traditional KIBS locations remain important in a period when broadband and mobile communications had become ubiquitous. A multinomial logit model and a cartography of predicted location probability (by KIBS subsector) are estimated based on a micro-spatial approach. Although some dispersion patterns are observed for subsectors, classic locations such as the city centre and other suburban poles remain important foci for new establishment location. Market-related factors also explain the location decisions of new KIBS. The results suggest that new communication technologies have not fundamentally changed KIBS' location rationalities. The location of new establishments should be distinguished, however, from the locations from which their employees perform their work.