Conference Agenda

Our study examines the impact of COVID-19 on the Japanese economy through a multi-faceted corporate network analysis, including director interlock networks, director dispatch networks, and shareholding networks. Our previous research demonstrated that corporate profitability exhibited both positive and negative correlations with centralities, and that the relationship varied depending on different centralities. Motivated by these findings, we investigate how the shocks caused by COVID-19 vary depending on a firm's network position, as measured by various centralities. To conduct this analysis, we utilize data from listed companies in Japan, covering approximately 3,800 firms per year for six years (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024). For empirical analysis, we identify structural changes using dummy variables. Firms are divided into two groups based on centrality—the top 25% and the rest—to examine differences in the impact of the economic shock. We employ an approach similar to the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) method: Before the pandemic, firms with high and low centrality had a profitability gap; after the pandemic, a gap also existed. We compare these differences before and after the shock. Our results reveal that firms in the top 25% of Bonacich power centrality in the director dispatch network experienced a significant decline in profit levels. These findings suggest that while corporate networks support firms either positively or negatively under normal conditions, they also serve as channels that amplify economic shocks during crises, as seen in the director dispatch network.

This paper analyses how post-2008 financial regulatory measures potentially influence the shareholder networks linking Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIRE) sectors to industrial sectors across distinct Varieties of Capitalism (Liberal, Coordinated, Mixed, State, and Hierarchical Market Economies). Using inferential network models on data covering the period from 2007 to 2019 (and in some cases to 2022), I explore whether regulatory tightening shapes the formation and dissolution of financial-to-industrial shareholder ties. Initial findings (Marcano Rivera, 2023) timidly suggested the presence of differentiated regulatory effects on network structures, but computational capacity limited conclusive results. By incorporating modelling changes and narrowing down the analysis to key sectors of the economy in lieu of the prior all-encompassing approach, the paper proposes to reveal cross-national variation that policymakers must consider in designing sector-specific regulatory strategies.

The primary objective of this research is to empirically verify whether corporate ownership structure can serve as an instrument for family succession, based on data from Korean chaebols. Chaebols are big business groups in Korea, characterized by a hierarchical-pyramidal ownership structure with numerous affiliated firms. A well-known feature of this structure is that family members of the group’s founder (or president) typically occupy the highest positions of the pyramid. The primary rationale behind adopting this hierarchical-pyramidal structure is believed to be its effectiveness in amplifying the controlling family’s influence over the entire affiliations.

Existing studies on chaebol ownership structures have predominantly focused on their isomorphic characteristics. However, these studies have overlooked the possibility of variation and differentiation within these ownership structures. Since chaebols are family-controlled business groups, there can be considerable diversity in the principle of family and the logic of successions. For instance, in some chaebols, multiple candidates may compete for succession, whereas in others, a successor may have been designated at an early stage. If all family-controlled business groups are treated as a single homogeneous category, such nuanced dynamics may be overlooked.

Thus, unlike previous studies that have treated the family as a single node in ownership structure network analyses, this study categorizes families into several subgroup categories to examine the structure in greater detail. The analysis employs stochastic block modeling (SBM), which allows for consideration of interchangeability or substitutability among family members. The findings suggest that chaebol ownership structures exhibit "isomorphic differentiation." Specifically, while ownership structures are fundamentally isomorphic, 'Owner-centered hierarchy', they can be classified into five distinct types. These five types appear to be closely related to different succession strategies.

This study contributes to research on family business and corporate sociology by empirically demonstrating that ownership structure and succession strategies can be interconnected. Moreover, it offers valuable insights for comparative studies on corporate structures across different national contexts.

The outer space industry is rapidly evolving into a trillion-dollar sector, driven by significant investments from major tech enterpreneurs and companies. This transformation marks the beginning of the so-called ‘New Space’ era, characterized by the emergence of profit-oriented space activities such as tourism and travel, communications and surveillance, and asteroid mining. Despite its rapid growth, the key players shaping this burgeoning industry remain underexplored. This paper identifies and analyzes these key actors, focusing on the networks of lobbying and interest groups, as well as the constellation of tech and business elites that surround them. Furthermore, the study examines the discourse promoted by these actors concerning space commercialization and its connection to pressing global issues, including space colonization, the increasing dominance of technology in society, and the intertwined challenges of climate change and diminishing terrestrial resources.

Sociological research on corporate elite mobility has often highlighted business families' social networks—especially marital ties with other controlling families—as key strategies for maintaining dominance and corporate control, as well as their collective interest as a upper class primary group. However, few studies have examined how these marital networks help sustain their organizational influence in contemporary market capitalism over time, largely due to the challenge of systematically collecting kinship data. This study analyzes data from over 800 publicly listed Taiwanese companies over four decades of observations (1981–2020, N=21,089) and maps the kinship and marital networks of controlling families. Using statistical analyses of chairperson tenure and turnover, it tests core arguments of social class perspective. Taiwan, with its market continuously dominated by family businesses and its rapid post-war economic development, serves as a suitable empirical case for testing these theoretical propositions. The analysis focuses on the effects of intermarriage among business families and whether elite status and corporate profitability moderate these effects. By illuminating the role of informal networks such as marriage in affecting elite mobility, this study advances contemporary research on corporate elites.