IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0080303.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spontaneous Centralization of Control in a Network of Company Ownerships

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian M Krause
  • Tiago P Peixoto
  • Stefan Bornholdt

Abstract

We introduce a model for the adaptive evolution of a network of company ownerships. In a recent work it has been shown that the empirical global network of corporate control is marked by a central, tightly connected “core” made of a small number of large companies which control a significant part of the global economy. Here we show how a simple, adaptive “rich get richer” dynamics can account for this characteristic, which incorporates the increased buying power of more influential companies, and in turn results in even higher control. We conclude that this kind of centralized structure can emerge without it being an explicit goal of these companies, or as a result of a well-organized strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian M Krause & Tiago P Peixoto & Stefan Bornholdt, 2013. "Spontaneous Centralization of Control in a Network of Company Ownerships," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-6, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0080303
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080303
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0080303
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0080303&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0080303?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David J. Teece, 2003. "Competition, Cooperation, and Innovation Organizational Arrangements for Regimes of Rapid Technological Progress," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Essays In Technology Management And Policy Selected Papers of David J Teece, chapter 16, pages 447-474, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. T. S. Evans, 2007. "Exact solutions for network rewiring models," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 56(1), pages 65-69, March.
    3. Stefania Vitali & James B Glattfelder & Stefano Battiston, 2011. "The Network of Global Corporate Control," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(10), pages 1-6, October.
    4. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    5. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    6. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐de‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2000. "Agency Problems and Dividend Policies around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 1-33, February.
    7. David Gilo & Yossi Moshe & Yossi Spiegel, 2006. "Partial Cross Ownership and Tacit Collusion," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(1), pages 81-99, Spring.
    8. S. Battiston & M. Catanzaro, 2004. "Statistical properties of corporate board and director networks," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 38(2), pages 345-352, March.
    9. Chirinko, Robert S. & Elston, Julie Ann, 2006. "Finance, control and profitability: the influence of German banks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 69-88, January.
    10. David Gilo & Yossi Moshe & Yossi Spiegel, 2006. "Partial cross ownership and tacit collusion," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(1), pages 81-99, March.
    11. Gary Hamel, 1991. "Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S1), pages 83-103, June.
    12. Leo Katz, 1953. "A new status index derived from sociometric analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 18(1), pages 39-43, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Céspedes, Jacelly & González, Maximiliano & Molina, Carlos A., 2010. "Ownership and capital structure in Latin America," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 248-254, March.
    2. Bushman, Robert M. & Smith, Abbie J., 2001. "Financial accounting information and corporate governance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 237-333, December.
    3. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Hottenrott, Hanna, 2012. "Collaborative R&D as a strategy to attenuate financing constraints," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-049, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Hai-Chin Yu & Ben Sopranzetti & Cheng-Few Lee, 2015. "The impact of banking relationships, managerial incentives, and board monitoring on corporate cash holdings: an emerging market perspective," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 353-378, February.
    5. Azar, José & Schmalz, Martin & Tecu, Isabel, 2017. "Anti-Competitive Effects of Common Ownership," IESE Research Papers D/1169, IESE Business School.
    6. John S. Howe & Brett C. Olsen, 2009. "Security Choice and Corporate Governance," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 15(4), pages 814-843, September.
    7. Stefania Vitali & James B Glattfelder & Stefano Battiston, 2011. "The Network of Global Corporate Control," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(10), pages 1-6, October.
    8. Nenova, Tatiana, 2006. "Takeover laws and financial development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4029, The World Bank.
    9. Francesco Crespi & Giuseppe Scellato, 2010. "Ownership Structure, Internal Financing And Investment Dynamics," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 78(3), pages 242-258, June.
    10. Norbäck, Pehr-Johan & Persson, Lars & Tåg, Joacim, 2010. "Buying to Sell: A Theory of Buyouts," Working Paper Series 817, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    11. An Zeng & Stefano Battiston, 2016. "The Multiplex Network of EU Lobby Organizations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, October.
    12. Prothit Sen & Phanish Puranam, 2022. "Do Alliance portfolios encourage or impede new business practice adoption? Theory and evidence from the private equity industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(11), pages 2279-2312, November.
    13. Fidrmuc, Jana P. & Jacob, Marcus, 2010. "Culture, agency costs, and dividends," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 321-339, September.
    14. Florian Leon, 2017. "Implications of loan portfolio concentration in Cambodia," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(1), pages 282-296.
    15. Berger, Allen N. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Zhou, Mingming, 2010. "The effects of focus versus diversification on bank performance: Evidence from Chinese banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1417-1435, July.
    16. Heinrich, Ralph P., 1999. "Complementarities in Corporate Governance - A Survey of the Literature with Special Emphasis on Japan," Kiel Working Papers 947, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    17. Bruinshoofd Allard & Kool Clemens, 2002. "The Determinants of Corporate Liquidity in the Netherlands," Research Memorandum 014, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    18. Huang-Meier, Winifred & Freeman, Mark C., 2015. "Aggregate dividends and consumption smoothing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 324-335.
    19. Chan-Jane Lin & Tawei Wang & Chao-Jung Pan, 2016. "Financial reporting quality and investment decisions for family firms," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 499-532, June.
    20. Eric Haye, 2015. "Hedge Fund Ownership, Board Composition and Dividend Policy in the Telecommunications Industry," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(1), pages 111-118, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0080303. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.