Sustaining business and professional services in a second city region

Few studies exist of the role of business and professional services (BPS) in second city regions that have experienced significant levels of deindustrialisation. The case for enhancing our understanding of the dynamics of BPS firms in the economy of a second city suggests that it is timely to explore their geography and structural dynamics outside global city regions. Structural and firm determinants of competitive advantage and disadvantage are identified and explored using the Birmingham city region (UK) as a case example employing evidence from a survey of BPS firms undertaken in 2002. The determinants of the sustainability of BPS firms in the context of Birmingham's position as the UK's second city, the growth of inter-regional trade in BPS, and the internationalisation of their markets is explored.