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The Community Structure of the Global Corporate Network

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  • Stefania Vitali
  • Stefano Battiston

Abstract

We investigate the community structure of the global ownership network of transnational corporations. We find a pronounced organization in communities that cannot be explained by randomness. Despite the global character of this network, communities reflect first of all the geographical location of firms, while the industrial sector plays only a marginal role. We also analyze the network in which the nodes are the communities and the links are obtained by aggregating the links among firms belonging to pairs of communities. We analyze the network centrality of the top 50 communities and we provide the first quantitative assessment of the financial sector role in connecting the global economy.

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  • Stefania Vitali & Stefano Battiston, 2013. "The Community Structure of the Global Corporate Network," Papers 1301.2363, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1301.2363
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    2. Tembo Nakamoto & Abhijit Chakraborty & Yuichi Ikeda, 2019. "Identification of Key Companies for International Profit Shifting in the Global Ownership Network," Papers 1904.12397, arXiv.org.
    3. Chakraborty, Abhijit & Krichene, Hazem & Inoue, Hiroyasu & Fujiwara, Yoshi, 2019. "Characterization of the community structure in a large-scale production network in Japan," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 513(C), pages 210-221.
    4. Dirk H M Akkermans, 2017. "Net profit flow per country from 1980 to 2009: The long-term effects of foreign direct investment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(6), pages 1-28, June.
    5. Brózda-Wilamek Dominika, 2023. "The global cross-border mergers and acquisitions network between 1990 and 2021," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 59(4), pages 333-348, December.
    6. Sánchez Díez, Angeles & Galaso Reca, Pablo & García de la Cruz, José Manuel, 2016. "Mergers and acquisitions carried out by Spanish firms in Latin America: a network analysis study," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    7. Adão, Luiz F.S. & Silveira, Douglas & Ely, Regis A. & Cajueiro, Daniel O., 2022. "The impacts of interest rates on banks’ loan portfolio risk-taking," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    8. Heinrich, Torsten, 2016. "The Narrow and the Broad Approach to Evolutionary Modeling in Economics," MPRA Paper 75797, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Robert H. Wade, 2018. "The Developmental State: Dead or Alive?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(2), pages 518-546, March.
    10. Yang, Xin & Wen, Shigang & Zhao, Xian & Huang, Chuangxia, 2020. "Systemic importance of financial institutions: A complex network perspective," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 545(C).
    11. Peng Wu & Li Pan, 2015. "Multi-Objective Community Detection Based on Memetic Algorithm," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-31, May.
    12. Marco Bardoscia & Paolo Barucca & Stefano Battiston & Fabio Caccioli & Giulio Cimini & Diego Garlaschelli & Fabio Saracco & Tiziano Squartini & Guido Caldarelli, 2021. "The Physics of Financial Networks," Papers 2103.05623, arXiv.org.
    13. Inmaculada Gutiérrez & Juan Antonio Guevara & Daniel Gómez & Javier Castro & Rosa Espínola, 2021. "Community Detection Problem Based on Polarization Measures: An Application to Twitter: The COVID-19 Case in Spain," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-27, February.

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