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The small core of the German corporate board network

Author

Listed:
  • Milaković, Mishael
  • Alfarano, Simone
  • Lux, Thomas
Abstract
We consider the current bipartite graph of German corporate boards and identify a small core of directors who are highly central in the entire network while being densely connected among themselves. To identify the core, we compare the actual number of board memberships to a random benchmark, focusing on deviations from the benchmark that span several orders of magnitude. It seems that the board appointment decisions of largely capitalized companies are the driving force behind the existence of a core in Germany's board and director network. Conditional on being a board member, it is very improbable to obtain a second membership, but multiple board membership becomes increasingly likely once this initial barrier is overcome. We also present a simple model that describes board appointment decisions as a trade-off between social capital and monitoring ability.

Suggested Citation

  • Milaković, Mishael & Alfarano, Simone & Lux, Thomas, 2008. "The small core of the German corporate board network," Kiel Working Papers 1446, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1446
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Leonardo Bargigli & Renato Giannetti, 2015. "The Italian Corporate System: SOEs, Private Firms and Institutions in a Network Perspective (1952-1983)," Working Papers - Economics wp2015_01.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    2. Drago, Carlo & Ricciuti, Roberto, 2017. "Communities detection as a tool to assess a reform of the Italian interlocking directorship network," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 466(C), pages 91-104.
    3. Tetsuji Okazaki & Michiru Sawada, 2012. "Interbank networks in prewar Japan: structure and implications," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 21(2), pages 463-506, April.
    4. Kai Jäger, 2013. "Sources of Franco-German corporate support for the euro: The effects of business network centrality and political connections," European Union Politics, , vol. 14(1), pages 115-139, March.
    5. Kai Jäger, 2017. "Studies on Issues in Political Economy since the Global Financial Crisis," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 71.
    6. Matthias Raddant & Hiroshi Takahashi, 2022. "Corporate boards, interorganizational ties and profitability: the case of Japan," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1365-1406, March.
    7. Carlo Drago & Roberto Ricciuti & Paolo Santella, 2015. "An Attempt to Disperse the Italian Interlocking Directorship Network: Analyzing the Effects of the 2011 Reform," Working Papers 2015.82, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    8. Ricardo Giglio & Thomas Lux, 2021. "The Core of the Global Corporate Network," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 681-705, September.
    9. Matthias Raddant & Mishael Milaković & Laura Birg, 2017. "Persistence in corporate networks," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 12(2), pages 249-276, July.
    10. Lucia Bellenzier & Rosanna Grassi, 2014. "Interlocking directorates in Italy: persistent links in network dynamics," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 9(2), pages 183-202, October.
    11. Sankowska, Anna & Siudak, Dariusz, 2016. "The small world phenomenon and assortative mixing in Polish corporate board and director networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 443(C), pages 309-315.
    12. Giulia Rotundo & Anna D’Arcangelis, 2014. "Network of companies: an analysis of market concentration in the Italian stock market," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1893-1910, July.
    13. Giglio, Ricardo & Lux, Thomas, 2016. "The core of the global corporate network," FinMaP-Working Papers 59, Collaborative EU Project FinMaP - Financial Distortions and Macroeconomic Performance: Expectations, Constraints and Interaction of Agents.
    14. Raddant, Matthias & Takahashi, Hiroshi, 2019. "The Japanese corporate board network," Kiel Working Papers 2130, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Milaković, Mishael & Raddant, Matthias & Birg, Laura, 2009. "Persistence of a network core in the time evolution of interlocking directorates," Economics Working Papers 2009-10, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    16. Ettore Croci & Rosanna Grassi, 2014. "The economic effect of interlocking directorates in Italy: new evidence using centrality measures," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 89-112, March.
    17. Aki-Hiro Sato, 2012. "Inference of Extreme Synchrony with an Entropy Measure on a Bipartite Network," Papers 1207.4860, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2013.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board and director interlocks; network core; network formation; market capitalization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions

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