Based vs Located
Solution 1:
I would say so, yes.
It's subtle, though.
"based" implies that you are speaking of a head office even though the business may have sub-offices.
Some employee in the US might say: "Sony is based in Japan" [although they probably have offices in America]
"located" is simply specifying the location.
"The Sony head office is located in Japan"
"Based in" simply adds a bit of information about where the main office of a company is. Not always the case, but in many cases.