Publications

@article{Reurink2020,
title = {Competing for capitals: the great fragmentation of the firm and varieties of FDI attraction profiles in the European Union},
author = {A Reurink and J Garcia-Bernardo},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2020.1737564},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1737564},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-03-19},
journal = {Review of International Political Economy},
keywords = {FDI, FDI attraction profiles, foreign direct investment, Great fragmentation, holding companies, multinational corporation, tax, tax competition},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Valeeva2020,
title = {The duality of firms and directors in board interlock networks: A relational event modeling approach},
author = {D Valeeva and E M Heemskerk and F W Takes},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378873320300186?},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2020.02.009},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-03-11},
journal = {Social Networks},
volume = {62},
pages = {68-79},
abstract = {The long tradition of scholarly work on corporate interlocks has left us with competing theoretical frameworks on the causes of interlock networks. Board interlocks are studied either as means to overcome the resource dependence of corporations or as a group cohesion mechanism of business elites. This contrast is due to an empirical divide of the literature where either the firms or the individuals are considered as decision-making bodies. In systematically ignoring the agency of the other group of actors, these literatures suffer from both theoretical and empirical biases in understanding the drivers of new interlocks. In this paper, we employ a relational event modeling technique that allows us to overcome this problem. The analysis of board appointments in Denmark demonstrates how in fact both personal and corporate considerations simultaneously drive the evolution of the corporate networks. The study of the duality of actors is essential for understanding the causes and consequences of corporate networks across time and space.},
keywords = {corporate networks, elites, interlocking directorates, relational event modeling},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Babic2019,
title = {Let’s talk about the interregnum: Gramsci and the crisis of the Liberal World Order},
author = {M Babic},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/ia/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ia/iiz254/5712430},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiz254},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-21},
journal = {International Affairs},
volume = {96},
number = {3},
pages = {767-786},
abstract = {The liberal international order (LIO) is in crisis. Numerous publications, debates and events have made it time and again clear that we are in the midst of a grand transformation of world order. While most contributions focus either on what is slowly dying (the LIO) or what might come next (China, multipolarity, chaos?), there is less analytical engagement with what lies in between those two phases of world order. Under the assumption that this period could last years or even decades, a set of analytical tools to understand this interregnum is urgently needed. This paper proposes an analytical framework that builds on Gramscian crisis concepts that will help understanding the current crisis of the LIO in a more systematic way. It adds to a gap in the literature on changing world order by elaborating three Gramsci-inspired crisis characteristics - processuality, organicity and morbidity -
that sketch the current crisis landscape in a systematic way. Building on this framework, the paper suggests different empirical entry points to the study of the crisis of the LIO and calls for a research agenda that takes this crisis seriously as a distinct period of changing world orders.},
keywords = {crisis, Globalization, Gramsci, international political economy, International Politics, international relations, liberal world order},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Garcia2019b,
title = {Does it Pay to be a Multinational? A Large‐Sample, Cross‐National Replication Assessing the Multinationality‐Performance Relationship},
author = {N Pisani and J Garcia-Bernardo and E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smj.3087},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3087},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
journal = {Strategic Management Journal},
volume = {41},
number = {1},
pages = {152-172},
abstract = {Does it pay to be a multinational? Despite decades of empirical research, we still do not know. We undertake a large‐sample, cross‐national replication of Lu and Beamish (2004) and Berry and Kaul's (2016) works to examine whether the multinationality‐performance relationship is S‐shaped in a 2009–2016 panel of 889,865 firm‐year observations. Using a two‐stage least squares fixed‐effects model that accounts for endogeneity on a subsample of 32,835 multinationals from 64 countries, we find no evidence of an S‐shaped relationship; nor do we see it in any of the single‐country contexts. Our results show no evidence of any within‐firm effect of multinationality on performance, highlighting the need for more contextually‐grounded research focused on explaining between‐firm effects to advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of the multinationality‐performance relationship.},
keywords = {firm performance, multinationality, panel data, replication, S-curve},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{PetryFichtnerHeemskerk2019b,
title = {Steering capital: the growing private authority of index providers in the age of passive asset management},
author = {J Petry and J Fichtner and E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2019.1699147},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2019.1699147},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-12-10},
journal = {Review of International Political Economy},
abstract = {Since the global financial crisis, there is a massive shift of assets towards index funds. Rather than picking stocks, index funds replicate stock indices such as the S&P 500. But where do these indices actually come from? This paper analyzes the politico-economic role of index providers, a small group of highly profitable firms including MSCI, S&P DJI, and FTSE Russell, and develops a research agenda from an IPE perspective. We argue that these index providers have become actors that exercise growing private authority as they steer investments through the indices they create and maintain. While technical expertise is a precondition, their brand is the primary source of index provider authority, which is entrenched through network externalities. Rather than a purely technical exercise, constructing indices is inherently political. Which companies or countries are included into an index or excluded (i.e. receive investment in- or outflows) is based on criteria defined by index providers, thereby setting standards for corporate governance and investor access. Hence, in this new age of passive asset management index providers are becoming gatekeepers that exert de facto regulatory power and thus may have important effects on corporate governance and the economic policies of countries.},
keywords = {capital flows, index funds, index providers, passive asset management, private authority, stock market indices},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Ajdacic2019,
title = {The Wealth Defence Industry: A large-scale study on accountancy firms as profit shifting facilitators},
author = {L D Ajdacic and E. M. Heemskerk and J Garcia-Bernardo },
url = {http://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/8t5za},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-12-04},
journal = {Working paper},
abstract = {Corporations increasingly engage in innovative ‘tax planning strategies’ by shifting profits between jurisdictions. In response, states try to curtail such profit shifting activities while at the same time attempting to retain and attract multinational corporations. We aim to open up this dichotomy between states and corporations and argue that a wealth defence industry of professional service firms plays a crucial role as intermediaries. We investigate the subsidiary structure of 27,000 MNCs and show that clients of the Big Four accounting firms show systematically higher levels of aggressive tax planning strategies than clients of smaller accounting firms. We specify this effect for three distinct strategies and also uncover marked differences across countries. As such we provide empirical evidence for the systematic involvement of auditors as intermediaries in corporate wealth defence.},
keywords = {Globalization, multiplex corporate networks, offshore, offshore financial centres},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Babic2019db,
title = {The rise of transnational state capital: state-led foreign investment in the 21st century},
author = {M Babic and J Garcia-Bernardo and E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2019.1665084},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2019.1665084},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-10-07},
journal = {Review of International Political Economy},
volume = {27},
number = {3},
pages = {433-475},
abstract = {Cross-border state-led investment is a recently rising, but understudied phenomenon of the global political economy. Existing research employs an anecdotal and case-oriented perspective that does not engage in a systemic, large-scale analysis of this rise of transnational state investment and its consequences for the transformation of state power in 21st century capitalism. We take a first step at filling this gap and offer two original contributions: Conceptually, we operationalize transnational foreign state-led investment on the basis of weighted ownership ties. These state capital ties are created by states as investors in corporations around the world. Empirically, we demonstrate our approach by setting up and analyzing the largest dataset on transnational state capital up to date. We show which different outward strategies states as owners employ and classify states according to their relative positions within the global network of transnational state capital. Our results illustrate a crucial aspect of the ongoing transformation of state power and sovereignty within globalization and we demonstrate how a careful and data-driven approach is able to identify different pathways and dimensions of this transformation.},
keywords = {corporate power, foreign direct investment, Globalization, Ownership, state capitalism},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{reurinkgarcia2019,
title = {Competing with whom? For what? And how? The great fragmentation of the firm, FDI attraction profiles, and the structure of international tax competition in the European Union},
author = {A Reurink and J Garcia-Bernardo
},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/7ugbr},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/7ugbr},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-12-19},
journal = {SocArXiv-preprint},
abstract = {International tax competition is generally framed as states competing for foreign direct investment (FDI), and analyses of the phenomenon draw heavily on FDI statistics. In and of themselves, however, FDI statistics are merely a quantification of the value of investment projects and tell us little about the heterogeneity of these projects and the distinct patterns of competitive dynamics between countries they generate. In this article, we create a more sophisticated understanding of international tax competition by pointing out its variegated nature. To do so, we introduce the notion of the “great fragmentation of the firm” to distinguish between five categories of FDI: manufacturing affiliates, shared service centers, R&D facilities, intermediate holding companies and top holding companies. Using a novel combination of firm-level and country-level data, we identify for each of these different categories of FDI which European Union member states are most successful in attracting it, what macro-institutional and tax arrangements they use to do so, and what benefits they receive from it in terms of tax revenues and employment creation. In this way we were able to identify five distinct FDI attraction profiles and show that, rather than being a game of all against all, tax competition in the European Union increasingly takes place amongst subsets of countries that compete for similar categories of FDI.},
keywords = {foreign direct investment, tax competition},
pubstate = {forthcoming},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Takes2018,
title = {Multiplex network motifs as building blocks of corporate networks},
author = {F W Takes and W A Kosters and B Witte and E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://appliednetsci.springeropen.com/track/pdf/10.1007/s41109-018-0094-z},
doi = {doi:10.1007/s41109-018-0094-z},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-12-14},
journal = {Applied Network Science, Springer},
volume = {3},
number = {39},
pages = {1-22},
abstract = {In corporate networks, firms are connected through links of corporate ownership and shared directors, connecting the control over major economic actors in our economies in meaningful and consequential ways. Most research thus far focused on the connectedness of firms as a result of one particular link type, analyzing node-specific metrics or global network-based methods to gain insights in the modelled corporate system.

In this paper, we aim to understand multiplex corporate networks with multiple types of connections, specifically investigating the network’s essential building blocks: multiplex network motifs. Motifs, which are small subgraph patterns occurring at significantly higher frequencies than in similar random networks, have demonstrated their usefulness in understanding the structure of many types of real-world networks. However, detecting motifs in multiplex networks is nontrivial for two reasons. First of all, there are no out-of-the-box subgraph enumeration algorithms for multiplex networks. Second, existing null models to test network motif significance, are unable to incorporate the interlayer dependencies in the multiplex network. We solve these two issues by introducing a layer encoding algorithm that incorporates the multiplex aspect in the subgraph enumeration phase. In addition, we propose a null model that is able to preserve the interlayer connectedness, while taking into account that one of the link types is actually the result of a projection of an underlying bipartite network.

The experimental section considers the corporate network of Germany, in which tens of thousands of firms are connected through several hundred thousand links. We demonstrate how incorporating the multiplex aspect in motif detection is able to reveal new insights that could not be obtained by studying only one type of relationship. In a general sense, the motifs reflect known corporate governance practices related to the monitoring of investments and the concentration of ownership. A substantial fraction of the discovered motifs is typical for an industrialized country such as Germany, whereas others seem specific for certain economic sectors. Interestingly, we find that motifs involving financial firms are over-represented amongst the larger and more complex motifs. This demonstrates the prominent role of the financial sector in Germany’s largely industry-oriented corporate network.},
keywords = {corporate ownership, multiplex corporate networks, network motifs},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{DataQuality,
title = {The Effects of Data Quality on the Analysis of Corporate Board Interlock Networks},
author = {J Garcia-Bernardo and F W Takes},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306437917302272},
doi = {10.1016/j.is.2017.10.005},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-11-15},
journal = {Information Systems, Elsevier},
volume = {78},
pages = {164-172},
abstract = {Nowadays, social network data of ever increasing size is gathered, stored and analyzed by researchers from a range of disciplines. This data is often automatically gathered from API’s, websites or existing databases. As a result, the quality of this data is typically not manually validated, and the resulting social networks may be based on false, biased or incomplete data. In this paper, we investigate the effect of data quality issues on the analysis of large networks. We focus on the global board interlock network, in which nodes represent firms across the globe, and edges model social ties between firms – shared board members holding a position at both firms. First, we demonstrate how we can automatically assess the completeness of a large dataset of 160 million firms, in which data is missing not at random. Second, we present a novel method to increase the accuracy of the entries in our data. By comparing the expected and empirical characteristics of the resulting network topology, we develop a technique that automatically prunes and merges duplicate nodes and edges. Third, we use a case study of the board interlock network of Sweden to show how poor quality data results in distorted network topologies, incorrect community division, biased centrality values and abnormal influence spread under a well-known diffusion model. Finally, we demonstrate how the proposed data quality assessment methods help restore the network structure, ultimately allowing us to derive meaningful and correct results from the analysis of the network.},
keywords = {assessment methods, data quality, global board interlock network, social networks},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Fichter2019,
title = {The New Permanent Universal Owners: Index Funds, (Im)patient Capital, and the Claim of Long-termism},
author = {J Fichtner and E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3321597},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-11-13},
journal = {SSRN},
pages = {1-30},
abstract = {Fundamental change is happening in asset management – the shift from actively managed funds
to index funds. This money mass migration into index funds has far-reaching consequences,
because it leads to a concentration of corporate ownership in the hands of the ‘Big Three’ asset
managers. We call BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street the ‘New Permanent Universal
Owners’ as they are invested indefinitely in thousands of member firms of stock indexes. We
provide novel findings on the combined ownership of the Big Three in 17 major stock indexes
from nine countries. Furthermore, we shed light on the impact of index funds on the dichotomy
between ‘patient’ and ‘impatient’ capital. The Big Three have proclaimed themselves
champions of long-termism. We analyze their voting behavior in five countries concerning two
proxies for corporate short-termism: share buybacks, and mergers and acquisitions. So far, they
have not unambiguously acted as champions of long-termism.},
keywords = {asset managers, corporate governance, corporate ownership, index funds, shorttermism, varieties of capitalism},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Babic2018,
title = {Actors, Not Markets: Bringing Corporate Power Back in International Studies},
author = {M Babic},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/isr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/isr/viy059/5063604},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viy059},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-01},
journal = {International Studies Review},
volume = {21},
number = {1},
pages = {175-176},
keywords = {corporations, Globalization, power, states},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{BigData,
title = { The Promise and Perils of Using Big Data in the Study of Corporate Networks: Problems, Diagnostics and Fixes},
author = {E M Heemskerk and K Young and F W Takes and B Cronin and J Garcia-Bernardo and V Popov and W K Winecoff and L F Henriksen and A Laurin-Lamonthe},
url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/glob.12183/full},
doi = {10.1111/glob.12183},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
journal = {Global Networks},
volume = {18},
number = {1},
pages = {3-32},
abstract = {Network data on connections between corporate actors and entities – for instance through co-ownership ties or elite social networks – are increasingly available to researchers interested in probing the many important questions related to the study of modern capitalism. Given the analytical challenges associated with the nature of the subject matter, variable data quality and other problems associated with currently available data on this scale, we discuss the promise and perils of using big corporate network data (BCND). We propose a standard procedure for helping researchers deal with BCND problems. While acknowledging that different research questions require different approaches to data quality, we offer a schematic platform that researchers can follow to make informed and intelligent decisions about BCND issues and address these through a specific work-flow procedure. For each step in this procedure, we provide a set of best practices for how to identify, resolve and minimize the BCND problems that arise.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Naissance,
title = {When Theory Meets Methods: The Naissance of Computer Assisted Corporate Interlock Research},
author = {M Fennema and E M Heemskerk},
url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/glob.12178/full},
doi = {10.1111/glob.12178},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
journal = {Global Networks},
volume = {18},
number = {1},
pages = {81-104},
abstract = {In this article, we study the emergence of computer aided network analysis as an example of ‘Mertonian’ multiple discovery. Computer assisted quantitative network analysis emerged around 1970 and small groups of researchers in different universities, who were independent of each other and looking for the right concepts and computer programs to implement graph theory in social analysis, first applied it to corporate interlock networks. We show how mathematical graph theory provided a toolbox for systematic network analysis and that simultaneously in the Netherlands and the United States this toolbox found an application in the study of corporate power. A historical narrative covers the three main centres in which large-scale corporate network analysis emerged – Amsterdam, California and Stony Brook. For each centre, we provide a sketch of the people involved, the tools they used, and the motivations that brought them to this topic. Our analysis makes clear that one cannot understand the emergence of computer aided network analysis without considering the personal and often political motivations of those who engaged in the first board interlock studies. Insurgent students of political science and sociology pushed for a research agenda on corporate power and found support from scholars who were keen to develop innovative network analysis methods. Hence, corporate network analysis became a legitimate field of research.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{sectorresearch,
title = {Sinks and Conduits: Identifying Offshore Financial Centers by using Big Data},
author = {J Garcia-Bernardo and J Fichtner and F W Takes and E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://corpnet.uva.nl/wp-content/uploads/IFC-Economic-Report.pdf},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-11-30},
journal = {IFC Review},
volume = {Economic Report},
number = {Winter 2017/ 18},
pages = {61-63},
abstract = {Th is article is based on J. Garcia-Bernardo, J. Fichtner, F.W. Takes and E.M. Heemskerk, ‘Uncovering Off shore Financial Centers: Conduits and Sinks in the Global Corporate Ownership Network’, Scientifi c Reports 7, article 6246, 2017. Th e research illustrates that ‘off shore’ jurisdictions are much more complex than the traditional notion of an island state secreting away cash. Th e University of Amsterdam researchers found that the off shore industry is in fact a complex network of fi nancial conduits, which involve many of the traditional ‘onshore’ centres. },
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{States,
title = {States versus Corporations: Rethinking the Power of Business in International Politics},
author = {M Babic and J Fichtner and E M Heemskerk },
url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03932729.2017.1389151},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-11-16},
journal = {The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs},
abstract = {Over 25 years ago, Susan Strange urged IR scholars to include multinational corporations in their analysis. Within IR and IPE discussions, this was either mostly ignored or reflected in an empirically and methodologically unsatisfactory way. We reiterate Strange’s call by sketching a fine-grained theoretical and empirical approach that includes both states and corporations as juxtaposed actors that interact in transnational networks inherent to the contemporary international political economy. This realistic, juxtaposed, actor- and relations-centred perspective on state and corporate power in the global system is empirically illustrated by the example of the transnationalisation of state ownership.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Offshore2017,
title = {Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers: Conduits and Sinks in the Global Corporate Ownership Network},
author = {J Garcia-Bernardo and J Fichtner and F W Takes and E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06322-9},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-06322-9},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-07-24},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
volume = {7},
number = {Article 6246},
abstract = {Multinational corporations use highly complex structures of parents and subsidiaries to organize
their operations and ownership. O shore Financial Centers (OFCs) facilitate these structures through low taxation and lenient regulation, but are increasingly under scrutiny, for instance for enabling tax avoidance. Therefore, the identi cation of OFC jurisdictions has become a politicized and contested issue. We introduce a novel data-driven approach for identifying OFCs based on the global corporate ownership network, in which over 98 million rms (nodes) are connected through 71 million ownership relations. This granular rm-level network data uniquely allows identifying both sink-OFCs and conduit- OFCs. Sink-OFCs attract and retain foreign capital while conduit-OFCs are attractive intermediate destinations in the routing of international investments and enable the transfer of capital without taxation. We identify 24 sink-OFCs. In addition, a small set of ve countries – the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore and Switzerland – canalize the majority of corporate o shore investment as conduit-OFCs. Each conduit jurisdiction is specialized in a geographical area and there
is signi cant specialization based on industrial sectors. Against the idea of OFCs as exotic small islands that cannot be regulated, we show that many sink and conduit-OFCs are highly developed countries.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{ESB,
title = {Langetermijnoriëntatie en de opkomst van passieve investeerders},
author = {E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://esb.nu/esb/20029499/langetermijnorientatie-en-de-opkomst-van-passieve-investeerders},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-07-13},
journal = {Economisch Statistische Berichten (ESB)},
volume = {102},
number = {4751},
pages = {320-321},
abstract = {Passieve investeerders zijn de afgelopen jaren flinke gegroeid. BlackRock, Vanguard en State Street hebben nu belangen in de meeste beursgenoteerde bedrijven. Welke rol vervullen deze aandeel­houders en wat betekent dit voor het management?},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Rijnland,
title = {Ligt het Rijnland nu in de VS? Lange termijn oriëntatie en passieve investeringsfondsen},
author = {E M Heemskerk},
url = {http://heemskerk.socsci.uva.nl/pdfs/Ligt%20het%20Rijnland%20nu%20in%20de%20VS.pdf},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-06-16},
journal = {Goed Bestuur & Toezicht},
volume = {13},
number = {2},
pages = {14-16},
abstract = {Bedreigd door vijandige overnamepogingen roepen bestuurders van Nederlandse bedrijven en politici om beschermingsconstructies. Hun pleidooi voor de lange termijn lijkt wat hypocriet. De ongekende opkomst van Amerikaanse indexbeleggers verklaart wellicht meer. Enorme fondsen als Blackrock zijn op de lange termijn gericht en onderhouden veel contact met ‘hun’ ondernemingen.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{AntitrustChronicle,
title = {The New Mandate Owners: Passive Asset Managers and the Decoupling of Corporate Ownership},
author = {C Shenkar and E M Heemskerk and J Fichtner},
url = {https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2988937},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-06-14},
journal = {Competition Policy International Antitrust Chronicle},
volume = {Spring 2017 Volume 1},
number = {3},
pages = {51-57},
abstract = {A major shift toward passively managed index funds in recent years has led to the re-concentration of corporate ownership in the hands of just three large asset management firms, the Big Three: BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street. We propose that this trend has re-structured ownership in capital markets. Adopting a contractual view to the corporate share, we re-define share holding and suggest that the New Mandate Owners in fact hold the essence of corporate power, as their aggregated positions capture the core element of the franchise of corporate voting.},
keywords = {corporate ownership, passive asset management},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{BigThree,
title = {Hidden Power of the Big Three? Passive Index Funds, Re-Concentration of Corporate Ownership, and New Financial Risk},
author = {J Fichtner and E M Heemskerk and J Garcia-Bernardo},
url = {https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-and-politics/article/hidden-power-of-the-big-three-passive-index-funds-reconcentration-of-corporate-ownership-and-new-financial-risk/30AD689509AAD62F5B677E916C28C4B6},
doi = {10.1017/bap.2017.6},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-04-25},
journal = {Business and Politics},
volume = {19},
number = {2},
pages = {298-326},
abstract = {Since 2008, a massive shift has occurred from active toward passive investment strategies. The passive index fund industry is dominated by BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, which we call the “Big Three.” We compre- hensively map the ownership of the Big Three in the United States and find that together they constitute the largest shareholder in 88 percent of the S&P 500 firms. In contrast to active funds, the Big Three hold relatively illiquid and perma- nent ownership positions. This has led to opposing views on incentives and pos- sibilities to actively exert shareholder power. Some argue passive investors have little shareholder power because they cannot “exit,” while others point out this gives them stronger incentives to actively influence corporations. Through an anal- ysis of proxy vote records we find that the Big Three do utilize coordinated voting strategies and hence follow a centralized corporate governance strategy. However, they generally vote with management, except at director (re-)elections. Moreover, the Big Three may exert “hidden power” through two channels: First, via private engagements with management of invested companies; and second, because company executives could be prone to internalizing the objectives of the Big Three. We discuss how this development entails new forms of financial risk.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Veen,
title = {Interlocking Directorate Networks},
author = {K van Veen and E M Heemskerk},
url = {https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4614-7163-9_274-1},
doi = {10.1007/978-1-4614-7163-9_274-1},
isbn = {978-1-4614-7163-9},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-03-17},
journal = {Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining},
pages = {1-6},
abstract = {Since the emergence of the modern corporation in the nineteenth century, managerial power has been in the hands of a relatively small group of people, often referred to as the business elite. Within this group, a substantial number of in- dividuals sit on the board of directors of mul- tiple companies. By combining multiple board positions, these individuals create “interlocking directorates” between companies. As a result, they can – potentially – coordinate management decisions, share information and practices, and enforce norms in different company contexts. This concentration of economic power in the hands of a few and its manifestation in extensive networks of interlocking directorates led to a sig- nificant set of studies on business elites beginning in the early twentieth century. Questions include the nature and delineation of the business elite and the causes and consequences of this phe- nomenon for the company and its stakeholders (e.g., Mizruchi 1996).
The set of companies, directors, and their link- ages form an “affiliation” or “two-mode” network from which a “one-mode” company-by-company network and a director-by-director network can be induced. These networks can be seen as a reflection of economic power structures and raise a variety of different questions which have been approached with different perspectives and by applying different network analyses.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}