Yet all three
have populations of more than four million. Surat is in western India and accounts
for about two-fifths of India’s textile production; Foshan is China’s seventh-largest
city by GDP; and Porto Alegre is the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul, the fourth-
largest state in Brazil by GDP.
Building a sufficiently detailed profile of the cities with the most promising market
opportunities, including competitive and cost considerations, is a complex and
time-consuming but necessary exercise. Companies that are able to identify the
most promising markets and build a presence early on are likely to benefit from
better market access and higher margins.
But far from embarking on such an intelligence-gathering exercise, most
companies today still do not use city-level analysis to inform their decisions where
to locate and do not appear to be preparing to change this broad approach over
the next five years (see Box 6, “Most executives deciding on location still look at
countries, not cities”). Limited awareness and available data both act as barriers.