Boston Mayor: Corporate headquarters are overrated, mayor says

The Boston Globe reports:

As Boston lost the headquarters of Gillette Co., FleetBoston Financial Corp., John Hancock Financial Services Inc. and others through corporate acquisitions, many saw signs of a local economic decline. If the headquarters went elsewhere, then Boston was becoming a branch office.
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Yesterday, at a plush gathering of business leaders on the revitalized waterfront, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said it was clear in retrospect that having corporate headquarters is overrated. Boston, he said, is prospering with fewer chief executives.

"I'm doing better today than I was doing before," Menino said. "Gillette is a much better partner for the city today. John Hancock has been a much better partner in recent years."

"There's too much emphasis put on headquarters," he said later.

The mayor's remarks summarize an emerging consensus among local leaders and academics.

"There was a series of fears that thus far have proved groundless," said Paul Grogan, of the Boston Foundation, often a Menino critic. "I know I sound like a member of the administration, but the mayor is right about this."