IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hit/hitcei/2008-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Political Connections and Business Strategy: The Impact of Types and Destinations of Political Ties on Business Diversification in Closed and Open Political Economic

Author

Listed:
  • Chung, Chi-Nien
  • Mahmood, Ishtiaq
  • Mitchell, Will

Abstract

This paper studies how different types and destinations of connections between business leaders and political actors create strategic benefits in closed and open political economic systems. The analysis examines how political ties facilitate diversification by business groups in Taiwan between 1986 and 1998, before and after the country underwent extensive political and economic liberalization that led to changes in diffusion of power, tie accountability, and public scrutiny. We show that formal position interlocks with the dominant party or senior government officials provide the greatest strategic benefits in a closed political economic system, while informal social ties to a wider range of political actors provide greater strategic benefits when a political economic system becomes more open.

Suggested Citation

  • Chung, Chi-Nien & Mahmood, Ishtiaq & Mitchell, Will, 2009. "Political Connections and Business Strategy: The Impact of Types and Destinations of Political Ties on Business Diversification in Closed and Open Political Economic," CEI Working Paper Series 2008-24, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
  • Handle: RePEc:hit:hitcei:2008-24
    Note: November 2, 2007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/29299/WP2008-24.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Leuz & Felix Oberholzer-Gee, "undated". "Political Relationships, Global Financing and Corporate Transparency," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 03-16, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    2. Tarun Khanna & Jan W. Rivkin, 2001. "Estimating the performance effects of business groups in emerging markets," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 45-74, January.
    3. Jean Imbs & Romain Wacziarg, 2003. "Stages of Diversification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 63-86, March.
    4. Acemoglu, Daron & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 1997. "Was Prometheus Unbound by Chance? Risk, Diversification, and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(4), pages 709-751, August.
    5. Agrawal, Anup & Knoeber, Charles R, 2001. "Do Some Outside Directors Play a Political Role?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(1), pages 179-198, April.
    6. Tarun Khanna & Krishna Palepu, 1999. "Policy Shocks, Market Intermediaries, and Corporate Strategy: The Evolution of Business Groups in Chile and India," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 271-310, June.
    7. Ishtiaq P. Mahmood & Will Mitchell, 2004. "Two Faces: Effects of Business Groups on Innovation in Emerging Economies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(10), pages 1348-1365, October.
    8. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    9. Fisman, Raymond & Khanna, Tarun, 2004. "Facilitating Development: The Role of Business Groups," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 609-628, April.
    10. Khanna, Tarun, 2000. "Business groups and social welfare in emerging markets: Existing evidence and unanswered questions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 748-761, May.
    11. Leuz, Christian & Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, 2006. "Political relationships, global financing, and corporate transparency: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 411-439, August.
    12. Edwin Mansfield, 1996. "Microeconomic policy and technological change," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, vol. 40(Jun), pages 183-213.
    13. Granovetter, Mark, 1995. "Coase Revisited: Business Groups in the Modern Economy," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 4(1), pages 93-130.
    14. Cynthia A. Montgomery & Harbir Singh, 1984. "Diversification strategy and systematic risk," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 181-191, April.
    15. Kock, Carl J & Guillen, Mauro F, 2001. "Strategy and Structure in Developing Countries: Business Groups as an Evolutionary Response to Opportunities for Unrelated Diversification," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 10(1), pages 77-113, March.
    16. Leff, Nathaniel H, 1978. "Industrial Organization and Entrepreneurship in the Developing Countries: The Economic Groups," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(4), pages 661-675, July.
    17. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew Warner, 1995. "Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 1-118.
    18. Tarun Khanna & Yishay Yafeh, 2007. "Business Groups in Emerging Markets: Paragons or Parasites?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 331-372, June.
    19. Johnson, Simon & Mitton, Todd, 2003. "Cronyism and capital controls: evidence from Malaysia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 351-382, February.
    20. Yeh, Yin-Hua & Woidtke, Tracie, 2005. "Commitment or entrenchment?: Controlling shareholders and board composition," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1857-1885, July.
    21. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    22. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
    23. Pankaj Ghemawat & Tarun Khanna, 1998. "The Nature of Diversified Business Groups: A Research Design and Two Case Studies," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 35-61, March.
    24. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    25. Raymond Fisman, 2001. "Estimating the Value of Political Connections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1095-1102, September.
    26. Besley, Timothy & Burgess, Robin, 2001. "Political agency, government responsiveness and the role of the media," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 629-640, May.
    27. Krishna Palepu, 1985. "Diversification strategy, profit performance and the entropy measure," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 239-255, July.
    28. Ranjay Gulati & Monica C. Higgins, 2003. "Which ties matter when? the contingent effects of interorganizational partnerships on IPO success," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 127-144, February.
    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. Randall Morck, 2011. "Finance and Governance in Developing Economies," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 375-406, December.
    2. Carney, Michael & Estrin, Saul & Van Essen, Marc & Shapiro, Daniel, 2017. "Business groups reconsidered: beyond paragons and parasites," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87340, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Daphne W. Yiu & Yuan Lu & Garry D. Bruton & Robert E. Hoskisson, 2007. "Business Groups: An Integrated Model to Focus Future Research," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 1551-1579, December.
    4. Habib, Ahsan & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Jiang, Haiyan, 2017. "Political connections, related party transactions, and auditor choice: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19.
    5. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Sinziana Dorobantu & Aseem Kaul & Bennet Zelner, 2017. "Nonmarket strategy research through the lens of new institutional economics: An integrative review and future directions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 114-140, January.
    6. Aguilera, Ruth V. & Crespí-Cladera, Rafel & Infantes, Paula M. & Pascual-Fuster, Bartolomé, 2020. "Business groups and internationalization: Effective identification and future agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    7. Nan Jia & Jing Shi & Yongxiang Wang, 2013. "Coinsurance Within Business Groups: Evidence from Related Party Transactions in an Emerging Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(10), pages 2295-2313, October.
    8. Shaleen Gopal & K. S. Manikandan & J. Ramachandran, 2021. "Are There Limits to Diversification in Emerging Economies? Distinguishing between Firm‐Level and Business Group Strategies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(6), pages 1532-1568, September.
    9. Raveendra Chittoor & Prashant Kale & Phanish Puranam, 2015. "Business groups in developing capital markets: Towards a complementarity perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9), pages 1277-1296, September.
    10. Yeh, Yin-Hua & Shu, Pei-Gi & Chiu, Shean-Bii, 2013. "Political connections, corporate governance and preferential bank loans," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1079-1101.
    11. Chinmay Pattnaik & Qiang Lu & Ajai S. Gaur, 2018. "Group Affiliation and Entry Barriers: The Dark Side Of Business Groups In Emerging Markets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1051-1066, December.
    12. Chavarín Rodríguez, Rubén, 2011. "Los grupos económicos en México a partir de una tipología de arquitectura y gobierno corporativos. Una revisión de sus explicaciones teóricas," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 0(309), pages 193-234, enero-mar.
    13. Melsa Ararat & Asli M. Colpan & Dirk Matten, 2018. "Business Groups and Corporate Responsibility for the Public Good," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 911-929, December.
    14. Tarun Khanna & Yishay Yafeh, 2007. "Business Groups in Emerging Markets: Paragons or Parasites?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 331-372, June.
    15. Chaney, Paul K. & Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David, 2011. "The quality of accounting information in politically connected firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 58-76.
    16. Xavier, Wlamir Gonçalves & Bandeira-de-Mello, Rodrigo & Marcon, Rosilene, 2014. "Institutional environment and Business Groups' resilience in Brazil," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 900-907.
    17. Frederick Kibon Changwony & Anthony Kwabena Kyiu, 2024. "Business strategies and corruption in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises: The impact of business group affiliation, external auditing, and international standards certification," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 95-121, January.
    18. Zhao, Hongxin & Lu, Jiangyong, 2016. "Contingent value of political capital in bank loan acquisition: Evidence from founder-controlled private enterprises in China," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 153-174.
    19. Bernard Yeung & Randall Morck & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2004. "Corporate Governance, Economic Entrenchment and Growth," Working Papers 04-21, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    20. Randall Morck, 2009. "The Riddle of the Great Pyramids," NBER Working Papers 14858, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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:hit:hitcei:2008-24. 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: Reiko Suzuki (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cehitjp.html .

    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.