This study investigates types and performance implications of competitive colocation from a network perspective. Drawing on the literature of industrial organization, economic geography, and social network analysis, we introduce a new conceptualization of location choice and colocation as an inter-firm network relationship and advance a theoretical framework on the dimensions of competitive colocations and their implications on firm performance. We maintain that this new approach provides an integrative framework to better understand the types and performance implications of competitive colocation. We first introduce two distinct dimensions of a focal firm’s competitive colocation, intensity and diversity, along with which we develop a typology of a focal firm’s structural position in the competitive colocation network: simple colocation, multicountry colocation, and multifirm colocation. We test predictions of the theoretical framework with subsidiary location information of the firms listed in the Fortune Global 500. The results of empirical analyses corroborate the main thesis of the current study that the intensity and diversity of a focal firm’s competitive colocation individually and jointly influence firm performance. In addition, we find that, on average, multicountry colocation outperforms the other two types of colocation.

本研究从网络角度调查竞争性主机托管的类型和性能影响。借鉴产业组织、经济地理学和社会网络分析的文献，我们引入了位置选择和共置作为企业间网络关系的新概念，并提出了竞争性共置维度及其对企业绩效影响的理论框架。我们认为，这种新方法提供了一个综合框架，可以更好地理解竞争性托管的类型和性能影响。我们首先介绍焦点公司竞争集中的两个不同维度：强度和多样性，同时我们开发了一个焦点公司在竞争性托管网络中的结构地位的类型：简单托管、多国托管和多公司托管。我们利用世界 500 强企业的子公司区位信息检验了理论框架的预测。实证分析的结果证实了当前研究的主要论点，即焦点企业同址竞争的强度和多样性单独和共同影响企业表现。此外，我们发现，平均而言，多国托管优于其他两种类型的托管。