I examine the role geography plays when a large company with a distant headquarters conducts business in a particular location. Geographers see a power imbalance between the mobile capital of large corporations and fixed locations that must attract this capital, while companies sometimes downplay geographic distance. However, this strategy can become a liability if tensions between the company and a location emerge. As a case study, I look at changing geographic perceptions as Enron conducted business in California in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Enron`s initial strategy was to efface its complex geographic relationship to California. Although the company`s strategy was initially more or less successful, as the California energy crisis unfolded, Enron`s geographic identity quickly became a lightning rod for public and journalistic expressions of frustration and anger. I track this shift in geographic perception through Enron press releases and California newspaper stories, editorials, and letters to the editor.
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