Global city leaders ‘face competition’ – consulting firm’s report

Social, geopolitical, and technological transformations are actively disrupting the traditional ladder of global cities and created a more widely distributed geography of opportunity, according to leading global management consulting firm Kearney’s Global Cities report.

The report highlights that “established global city leaders face ever-greater competition from emerging hubs, with those taking a reformative approach intended to lead in the attraction of talent, innovation and investment.

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Global cities are defined by their international connectivity. The report specifies they are microcosms of the dynamics which shape our world.

“Given the depth of their global interconnectedness, they are on the one hand particularly susceptible to the shifting dynamics that disrupt the flows of capital, individuals and ideas from around the world,” it stated.

“At the same time, however, they also often benefit from disruptive trends, attracting disproportionate shares of talent and investment, and serving as hubs of innovation and catalysts for economic growth.”

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In the 156 cities included in this year’s Global Cities Index (GCI) and Global Cities outlook, the city of Cape Town ranked 84th, witnessing a decline in three GCI dimensions. Cities were measured against five key dimensions: human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, political engagement and business activity.

The GCI sought to quantify the extent to which a city could attract, retain and generate global flows of capital, people and ideas. It also assessed how globally engaged cities were across five dimensions.

The City of Cape Town had a decline in all three dimensions due to heightened global competition for talent and shifting business dynamics and disruptive economic forces in the continent and beyond. “It did improve four spots however in the information exchange dimension, including through an improved online presence,” the report stated.

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Johannesburg was still in its 58th spot in the overall GCI ranking this year. The report revealed there were improvements in the human capital dimension and political engagement dimension (where it scores highly in 15th position), which were offset by declines in the information exchange and cultural experience dimensions.

On the whole, the African continent’s average rank rose one spot this year to 104th, primarily driven by an improvement in the business activity dimension, where the average rank rose three spots to 107th.