We are glad to announce that the abstract “On Data Quality and Centrality Measures in Big Corporate Network Analysis” has been selected for a plenary presentation in the 2nd GESIS Computational Social Science Winter Symposium 2015.
Although often depicted as atomistic and individualistic market actors, corporations are tightly embedded in networks of power and control. They share board members (interlocking directorates), share owners and engage in direct shareholdings with one another. These so-called corporate networks have long formed distinct national business communities and are part of the organisation of national economies.
New databases and methods allow us to go beyond our current understanding of how the global economy is organised. However, with big corporate network data come big problems as well. In the CORPNET research group we analyse the networks of corporate control of more than 170 million companies and their directors (sourced from the ORBIS database). This rich data source provides both new methodological challenges when interpreting the result of applying for example centrality measures as well as challenges with respect to data quality assurance.
The abstract can be found here. See you in Cologne!
