The Evolution of Interlocking Directorates Studies - A Global Trend Perspective - Núm. 33, Julio 2018 - Revista AD-minister - Libros y Revistas - VLEX 772105585

The Evolution of Interlocking Directorates Studies - A Global Trend Perspective

AutorMiguel Ignacio Córdova Espinoza
CargoPhD. Candidate in Strategic Management (Consorcio de Universidades, Lima, Perú)
Páginas135-165
135
AD-MINISTER
AD-minister Nº. 33 julio - diciembre 2018 pp. 85 - 112 · ISSN 1692-0279 · eISSN 2256-4322
The Evolution of Interlocking Directorates Studies
- A Global Trend Perspective
La Evolución de los Estudios de Redes de Directores – Una Perspectiva de Tendencia Global
MIGUEL IGNACIO
CÓRDOVA ESPINOZA
JEL: D, G, M
Received:03/10/2018
Modified:07/12/2018
Accepted:12/12/2018
DOI: 10.17230/ad-minister.33.7
www.eafit.edu.co/ad-minister
Creative Commons (CC BY-NC- SA)
MIGUEL IGNACIO CÓRDOVA ESPINOZA
ABSTRACT
Directors’ corporate networks have been the subject of several studies that explore their different
consequences, such as resource collaboration, transmission of practices, financial decisions, reduc-
tion of uncertainty, control and management, the firm’s reputation and individual interests. However,
there is still no consensus about what these interlocking directorates (IDs) really do for firms and in
what direction current research is following. This study carried out an extensive review of the literatu-
re in 75 papers (from 1969 to 2018) focused on IDs research, and as a result proposes two categories
and four subcategories related to companies’ outcomes. The study found that the biggest contribution
to firms, focuses on the description of network structures and control and management results, re-
marking the difference between North America IDs research and other regions, while shedding light
on what IDs do for firms. It also identified gaps in research such as dissemination, globalization and
collusion that need to have more analysis.
RESUMEN
Las redes de directores han sido objeto de muchos estudios que exploran sus consecuencias tales
como la colaboración de recursos, transmisión de prácticas, decisiones financieras, reducción de la
incertidumbre, control, reputación e intereses individuales. Sin embargo, aún no existe un consen-
so acerca de lo que estas redes de directorios realmente hacen para las empresas y el camino que
sigue su investigación. Este estudio realizó una revisión extensa de 75 artículos (desde 1969 hasta
2018) enfocados en estas redes y propone dos categorías y cuatro subcategorías de acuerdo a sus
resultados para las empresas. Se encontró que la mayor contribución para las empresas se enfoca
en la descripción de la estructura de la red y en los resultados de control, mostrando diferencia
entre la investigación de Norteamérica y otras regiones, dando luz acerca de lo que hacen estas
redes para las empresas. Se identificó también que los efectos de difusión, la globalización y la
colusión requieren más atención.
KEY WORDS
Interlocking directorates, corporate governance, corporate network, business elites.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Redes de directorios, gobierno corporativo, red corporativa, élite de negocios
1 PhD. Candidate in Strategic Management (Consorcio de Universidades, Lima, Perú) / MBA (Centrum
Católica, Lima, Perú). Assistant Professor of Management / Internationalization Leader for the Man-
agement Department, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. E-mail cordova.miguel@pucp.edu.pe
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1010-8803
136
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Miguel Ignacio Córdova Espinoza
The Evolution of Interlocking Directorates Studies - A Global Trend Perspective
INTRODUCTION
Any individual or community is naturally embedded in social relations (Granovetter,
1985). It is through these social relations that dierent types of ties between entities
are created (Granovetter, 1973) and these connections can establish a way to relate
not just individuals, but can create ties among groups as well, making it possible
to manage a two mode relationship (Breiger, 1974). A network is represented by
the entities (individuals or collectivities) and their corresponding connections
(Granovetter, 1976).
From the standpoint of the Resource Dependence Theory (Pfeer & Salancik,
1978) the resource is strongly indicated as a need of organizations for their survival
and to achieve good performance. However, the simple presence of a network is not
sucient to ensure obtaining benefits from it. In order to get access to the benefits
of a network, it is necessary to identify what kind of resources are available from it,
and most importantly, take notice of strategic and valuable resources that are not
available from the organization’s internal sources (Hitt, Ireland, Camp & Sexton,
2001). The group of valuable resources that a firm could obtain from its network
is called social capital (Adler & Kwon, 2002; Parkhe, Wasserman & Ralston, 2006)
and the organization must make proper use of this social capital according to the
surrounding conditions of the business environment (Kwon & Adler, 2014).
According to Breiger (1974), a two-mode network is a structured configuration
formed by individuals and communities both at the same time. Some of the main
characteristics of this configuration, such as cohesiveness or connectivity, could
possibly be framed with specific “Small World” properties (Travers & Milgram,
1969) defined by the length between entities, meaning the distance from one
point to another; and clustering level, that implies network transitivity (Conyon &
Muldoon, 2006). Firms are collectivities, and they are related to each other through
inter-organizational relationships such as their board of directors. A corporate
network is created when boards of dierent companies establish connections
between themselves through business relationships where many resources such
as information, trust, knowledge or access to capital may be found. Dierent types
of corporate networks were studied before such as ownership networks, equity or
interlocking directorates. This study will focus on the literature review about the
latter, following the research questions explained below.
IDs occur when a director sits on more than two boards opening the availability
of new resources for each firm (Haunschild & Beckman, 1988; Shipilov, Greve &
Rowley, 2010) or the possibility of control and coordination between them (Boyd,
1990; Mizruchi, 1996; Palmer, 1983; Salvaj, 2013; Salvaj & Lluch, 2014; Lluch, Salvaj
& Barbero, 2014). Furthermore, the formation of an ID may be due to individual
interests of the directors (Zajac, 1988) or a wide class influence against the logical
business criteria (Useem, 1984).
The relevance of this study is to understand how IDs global research has been
evolving, while finding outcome patterns across the firms evolution. This allows us

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