2 The Structure of Corporate Networks

Abstract

Abstract This chapter offers a comprehensive analysis of corporate networks between major firms in the United States and five countries in Europe: Germany, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. It shows that the structure of networks can be compared with the dominant forms of intermediary interest representation found in each country. In Germany, the network between companies is dense, comprehensive, centralized, and corresponds in this regard with the corporatist structures also existing in the country. German corporate networks and capital networks overlap considerably, meaning that companies are not only linked together through interlocking directorates but also often through capital networks (ownership relationships). In Great Britain, the network is sparse, non-comprehensive (a large percentage of isolated companies), and non-centralized. The potential influence in this network is diffuse and not geared toward the organization of markets. This chapter looks at the relationship between markets and institutions, networks as part of the market order, regulation of competition through the so-called organization, differences in network structures, capital networks, and centrality of firms in the network.