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Online social networks (OSN) are major platforms of ICT-enabled communication, supporting place-independent social life. However, recent findings suggest that the geographical location of users strongly affects network topology. Therefore, OSNs may be simultaneously related to locations and also unlocked from offline geographies. Our paper addresses this dual-faced phenomenon, analysing the location-specific effect on OSN diffusion and OSN usage. Findings on iWiW (International Who Is Who), the leading OSN in Hungary in the 2000s with more than 4 million users, suggest that the rate of users (proxy for OSN diffusion) is positively associated with the geographical proximity of Budapest, the foremost urban centre in the country. On the contrary, the average number of connections (proxy for OSN usage) is independent of the geographical proximity of the capital, and it is even higher in peripheral regions when controlling for other offline factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) is not only profoundly altering the structure of businesses, but has also triggered a thorough reshuffling in the location of economic decision-making. This paper explores these changes in Germany over the last decade, with particular attention being paid to industry-specific transformations. In order to identify the logic behind changes in the location of economic decision-making, four factors are analysed across ten different industrial sectors. These determinants include the presence of economies of proximity and agglomeration, the degree of metropolitan interconnectivity (or ‘archipelago economies’), the concentration of economic decision-making in large urban metropolitan areas, and the role played by geographical distance in shaping M&As. The results indicate that different industries display significantly different spatial merging behaviours, with economies of proximity, concentration and agglomeration playing a capital, but different role in determining the dynamics of M&As across sectors in Germany. There is also – with the exception of the media industry, as well as information and communication technologies – little sign of geography losing importance in economic transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades professional service firms have increasingly expanded their activities beyond national borders and established international offices throughout the world. This paper describes and analyses spatial patterns of internationalisation within the engineering consulting sector. By mapping expansion biographies of European engineering consulting firms and conducting dynamic Cox regression models, external factors influencing international market selection are examined. It is shown that current spatial patterns are only partly shaped by the declining importance of cross-national distance. Instead, market seeking motivations and the exploitation of time-critical opportunities appear to be of more significance. Further, changing patterns of market selection are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]