Corporate Headquarters May Not Matter

So much for the imperial corporate headquarters with the polished marble walls, the dramatic paintings and the soaring sculptures. As the world economy evolves, the concept of a company's "headquarters" will gradually become a lot less relevant.

So believes Jeremy Siegel, a professor of finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In developing countries, whose output growth increased from 37 percent of the world's total to 45 percent since 2000, it is becoming less important where a company's CEO hangs his or her hat.

"People think they're diversifying by investing in a country, and it leads to inadequate diversification because the country of origin or incorporation is not the primary influence on the stock price," Siegel told BusinessWeek online.

Over time a new model will evolve where a firm will be defined by what products it makes and where it makes and sells them rather than by any specific country, Siegel says. That will call for different forms of regulation and accounting.

My take: Actually, a lot of what the professor says is old news. Nearly 20 years ago, BusinessWeek pushed a new model called "The Stateless Corporation" which sounds pretty much like Siegel's version. But he's right about regulation and accounting changing. It looks like the U.S. will soon be on its way to the accounting standard the rest of the world uses.

(Still think corporate HQs are important? Check out BNET's feature on office makeovers and learn how to design yours right.)

(Image by Marcelo Tourne via Flickr, CC 2.0)