Title: Comparative analysis of China's interlock firms network in five regions

Authors: Yue Chen; Xiaoyu Zhu; Zeyuan Liu

Addresses: WISE Lab, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116085, China ' WISE Lab, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116085, China ' WISE Lab, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116085, China

Abstract: The complexity of the interlock firms' network is a miniature of the whole social economy system. This paper explored the regional interlock firms' network in China (including Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing) through vertical and horizontal comparative analysis. The results demonstrated the ties and differences of the network in the historical, regional, structural and multiplicity scale. The conclusion is that both the amount and proportion of interlock firms are increased. By the influence of the degree of marketisation, industry characteristics and geographical position, the interlock directors in Beijing are more national and diversified, and those who are in Guangdong are local and lower diversified. The firms in Beijing and Shanghai tend to interlock cross-industry more. The firms in Zhejiang are significant in multiplicity. Those interlock firms network in Beijing and in Guangdong are relatively dispersive, compared to the firms in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang which are more concentrated.

Keywords: China listed companies; comparative analysis; connectivity; CSMAR; historical scale; interlock directors; interlock firms; multiplicity; network structure; regional scale; business networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKMS.2015.074144

International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies, 2015 Vol.6 No.4, pp.353 - 362

Received: 27 Aug 2015
Accepted: 29 Aug 2015
Published online: 12 Jan 2016 *

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