Subservient Suburbia: The Reliance of Large Suburban Companies on Central City Firms for Financial and Professional Services

Abstract

Some analysts see the suburbs as economically autonomous areas minimally or not at all dependent on the central city; others claim that suburbia continues to lack the agglomeration economies necessary for high-level corporate services. Although the suburbs now contain more population, jobs, and office space than do central cities, the functions of suburban economic activity are not easily discerned from government statistics. This article examines the degree to which suburban companies rely on suburban- and central city-based firms for financial and professional services. The research shows that suburban companies seldom employ suburban service providers. Suburban companies rely mostly on service firms located either in their own central city or in the central city of another metropolitan region. Suburban service providers tend to cater to smaller companies within their own metropolitan areas; they are seldom hired by companies from other metropolitan areas.