Internationalisation, diversification and spatial restructuring in transnational computer service firms: Case studies from the UK market

This paper has two foci. Firstly, it profiles the evolving internationalisation and diversification strategies of leading computer service providers since 1990, and secondly it considers how such dynamics are affecting the spatial networks of these transnational firms through the window of the U.K. industry. Nine of the top twelve computer service providers in the U.K. market are used as case studies. In response to the demands of multinational clients and increasingly open and competitive markets, it appears that nationally oriented subsidiaries are being superseded by more responsive, internationally oriented structures. In particular, R&D and marketing operations are increasingly being co-ordinated at the continental or global scale. Simultaneously, firms are diversifying into new computer service markets in order to offer a wider variety of services. However, the exact nature of the restructuring undertaken and its spatial outcome varies both between different types of computer service firms and different growth strategies. A key distinction is that firms actively seeking growth in the IT outsourcing market appear to be undergoing more spatially extensive growth, while the remaining firms are consolidating their operations in core regions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.