The Intraurban Distribution of Corporate Activities: A Case Study of Atlanta

The intent of this study is to assess the relative importance of suburban areas in terms of corporate activity. Data from Dun and Bradstreet's America's Corporate Families were utilized to test the ability of the Semple-Phipps hypothesis to predict the distribution of corporate activities in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It was found that the change in the locations of corporate activities in Atlanta since 1984 did not follow the patterns predicted by the Semple-Phipps hypothesis. Corporate activity was expanding most rapidly in the central business district, which contradicts previous studies that determined that suburban areas were growing at the expense of the central business district.