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To highlight the role of each economic sector in the integration of territories,
we would like to demonstrate the role of each of these economic strategies in the
articulation of the network of cities. In the first part of this paper, we will describe
the governance of six multinational firms, starting from their individual network of
filiations. From this individual firm network, we will collect measurements for each
firm. These data enable us to compare individual networks of firms and to observe
their strategies. In a second section, we will produce a visualization of the cities'
networks based on the aggregation of the subsidiary networks of the firms. This
stage enables us to observe their territorial strategies and to replace each city in the
context of the global strategies of the firms. Finally, we compare our results for the
automotive and agro-food sectors by comparing the cities' networks as formed by
the main companies. Such graphs enable us to visualize and to compare the sector's
strategies according to their inter- and intra-urban dimensions. This comparison will
allow us to identify the intra-urban links that form the basis of the influence that each
city has in the automobile and agro-food networks of cities.
10.2
Constraints of Economic Sector and Firm Governance
10.2.1
Two Economic Sectors
Up until now, international research on urban systems has been very difficult
because of the lack of data relating to networks (
Rozenblat & Pumain
,
1993
;
Veltz
,
2000
). The ORBIS database (Bureau Van Dijk), which was created in
2003, however, now allows analysis of information on companies at a global
scale (company names, location, level and nature of filiations, turnover, number
of employees, etc.). Before explaining our procedure for analysis and visualization,
we will provide an overview of the companies that we have selected to allow a
comparative analysis. We have chosen to study 6 multinational firms in two different
sectors: the agro-food industry and the motor industry.
10.2.1.1
Agro-Food Industry
The agro-food industry is a diversified economic sector that encompasses myriad
sub-sectors (meats, dairy products, cereals, wine and spirits, milk, water, etc.),
where small companies interact with large companies. Through the study of multi-
national firms in the agro-food industry, we focus on these “giant” enterprises. These
enterprises are a product of the agro-industrial model, which has been growing
since the beginning of the century, and is based on a model of mass consumption.
The agro-industrial model of production is described as “specialized, concentrated,
financialized and in the process of globalization” (
Rastoin
,
2000
). However, food
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