van Kuppevelt, Dafne E; Bakhshi, Rena; Heemskerk, Eelke M.; Takes, Frank W. Community membership consistency applied to corporate board interlock networks Journal Article In: Journal of Computational Social Science, 2021. @article{vanKuppevelt2021,
title = {Community membership consistency applied to corporate board interlock networks},
author = {Dafne E van Kuppevelt and Rena Bakhshi and Eelke M. Heemskerk and Frank W. Takes},
url = {DOI: 10.1007/s42001-021-00145-5
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42001-021-00145-5#article-info},
doi = {10.1007/s42001-021-00145-5},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-11-19},
journal = {Journal of Computational Social Science},
abstract = {Community detection is a well-established method for studying the meso-scale
structure of social networks. Applying a community detection algorithm results in
a division of a network into communities that is often used to inspect and reason
about community membership of specifc nodes. This micro-level interpretation step
of community structure is a crucial step in typical social science research. However,
the methodological caveat in this step is that virtually all modern community detection methods are non-deterministic and based on randomization and approximated
results. This needs to be explicitly taken into consideration when reasoning about
community membership of individual nodes. To do so, we propose a metric of community membership consistency, that provides node-level insights in how reliable
the placement of that node into a community really is. In addition, it enables us to
distinguish the community core members of a community. The usefulness of the
proposed metrics is demonstrated on corporate board interlock networks, in which
weighted links represent shared senior level directors between frms. Results suggest
that the community structure of global business groups is centered around persistent
communities consisting of core countries tied by geographical and cultural proximity. In addition, we identify fringe countries that appear to associate with a number
of diferent global business communities.},
keywords = {board interlocks, community detection, interlocking directorates, modularity, network analysis},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Community detection is a well-established method for studying the meso-scale
structure of social networks. Applying a community detection algorithm results in
a division of a network into communities that is often used to inspect and reason
about community membership of specifc nodes. This micro-level interpretation step
of community structure is a crucial step in typical social science research. However,
the methodological caveat in this step is that virtually all modern community detection methods are non-deterministic and based on randomization and approximated
results. This needs to be explicitly taken into consideration when reasoning about
community membership of individual nodes. To do so, we propose a metric of community membership consistency, that provides node-level insights in how reliable
the placement of that node into a community really is. In addition, it enables us to
distinguish the community core members of a community. The usefulness of the
proposed metrics is demonstrated on corporate board interlock networks, in which
weighted links represent shared senior level directors between frms. Results suggest
that the community structure of global business groups is centered around persistent
communities consisting of core countries tied by geographical and cultural proximity. In addition, we identify fringe countries that appear to associate with a number
of diferent global business communities. |
Valeeva, Diliara Where is the backbone of the transnational corporate elite? Journal Article In: Global Networks, pp. 1-17, 2021. @article{Valeeva2021b,
title = {Where is the backbone of the transnational corporate elite?},
author = {Diliara Valeeva},
url = {DOI: 10.1111/glob.12351
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/glob.12351},
doi = {10.1111/glob.12351},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-11-15},
urldate = {2021-11-15},
journal = {Global Networks},
pages = {1-17},
abstract = {The transnationalization of corporate activities has contributed to a rise in the number of transnational professionals and transnational corporate elite members. These transnational actors establish ties within and across national borders and contribute to the formation of a more connected global corporate network. And yet little is known about the geographical locations through which these transnational corporate elites operate, both nationally and internationally. This article aims to fill this gap by applying the network backbone detection algorithm to detect the global cities that are connected through the
operations of the transnational corporate board members. The article detects the backbone of around 300 global cities, centered around London, New York and Hong Kong. The findings show that the backbone is currently structuring over a set of border-crossing communities and expanding to the locations beyond the Anglophone corporate world. The study interprets the presence of these new communities as the first signs toward the convergence of practices, norms and possibly identities of national elite members.},
keywords = {board interlocks, elite networks, transnationalism, world city networks},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The transnationalization of corporate activities has contributed to a rise in the number of transnational professionals and transnational corporate elite members. These transnational actors establish ties within and across national borders and contribute to the formation of a more connected global corporate network. And yet little is known about the geographical locations through which these transnational corporate elites operate, both nationally and internationally. This article aims to fill this gap by applying the network backbone detection algorithm to detect the global cities that are connected through the
operations of the transnational corporate board members. The article detects the backbone of around 300 global cities, centered around London, New York and Hong Kong. The findings show that the backbone is currently structuring over a set of border-crossing communities and expanding to the locations beyond the Anglophone corporate world. The study interprets the presence of these new communities as the first signs toward the convergence of practices, norms and possibly identities of national elite members. |
de Beule, Frank; Elia, Stefano; Garcia-Bernardo, Javier; Heemskerk, Eelke M; Jaklič, Andreja; Takes, Frank W; Zdziarski, Michal Proximity at a distance: The relationship between foreign subsidiary co-location and MNC headquarters board interlock formation Journal Article Forthcoming In: International Business Review, Forthcoming. @article{nokey,
title = {Proximity at a distance: The relationship between foreign subsidiary co-location and MNC headquarters board interlock formation},
author = {Frank de Beule and Stefano Elia and Javier Garcia-Bernardo and Eelke M Heemskerk and Andreja Jaklič and Frank W Takes and Michal Zdziarski},
url = {DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2021.101971
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096959312100189X},
doi = {10.1016/j.ibusrev.2021.101971},
journal = {International Business Review},
abstract = {Corporations seek various relationships, such as board interlocks, with other firms to reduce resource dependencies. The consistent theoretical expectation and empirical finding that physical proximity is an important driver for board interlock formation is seemingly at odds with the emerging and growing literature on transnational board interlock ties. We argue that the effect of proximity on multinational corporation (MNC) board interlock formation can also be attributed to the firms’ internationalization strategy, namely, when they have co-located subsidiaries in foreign markets. We call this “proximity at a distance”. We test our assumptions on a dataset covering almost 43,000 board interlocks among MNC headquarters and their 12 million subsidiary co-location pairs. We confirm that proximity among headquarters increases the odds of interlocking but also find robust evidence that co-located subsidiaries also increase firms’ propensity to interlock, particularly for transnational board interlocks. Our results help provide an explanation for the “paradox of distance” by showing that the interlock between two distant MNCs may be driven by proximity to their foreign subsidiaries. As such, we illustrate how MNCs’ resource-dependent strategic responses can occur at the headquarters level to address uncertainties experienced at the subsidiary level.},
keywords = {board interlocks, HQ-subsidiary relations, internationalization, proximity, resource dependence, subsidiary co-location, transnational board interlocks},
pubstate = {forthcoming},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Corporations seek various relationships, such as board interlocks, with other firms to reduce resource dependencies. The consistent theoretical expectation and empirical finding that physical proximity is an important driver for board interlock formation is seemingly at odds with the emerging and growing literature on transnational board interlock ties. We argue that the effect of proximity on multinational corporation (MNC) board interlock formation can also be attributed to the firms’ internationalization strategy, namely, when they have co-located subsidiaries in foreign markets. We call this “proximity at a distance”. We test our assumptions on a dataset covering almost 43,000 board interlocks among MNC headquarters and their 12 million subsidiary co-location pairs. We confirm that proximity among headquarters increases the odds of interlocking but also find robust evidence that co-located subsidiaries also increase firms’ propensity to interlock, particularly for transnational board interlocks. Our results help provide an explanation for the “paradox of distance” by showing that the interlock between two distant MNCs may be driven by proximity to their foreign subsidiaries. As such, we illustrate how MNCs’ resource-dependent strategic responses can occur at the headquarters level to address uncertainties experienced at the subsidiary level. |