This paper is a cross-national and historical study of business organizations. In particular, I examine variations in interorganizational relationships across national cases and over time. I study relatively strong intercorporate relationships which can provide for close cooperation between business: directorship interlocks and cross-shareholdings. Variations in such relationships are important because they both reflect and shape a country's economic organization and development. I have assembled a systematic data set including the largest corporations in Italy and Spain, in both 1977 and 1994. I analyze these data using social network methods, and draw on historical-institutional theory and comparative-historical sociology to interpret the results. My findings indicate that intercorporate relations are shaped by (1) paths to industrialization, (2) degree of state interventionism, and (3) foreign multinational investment. These factors condition the different positions of corporations in the network and the division of labor among family-controlled, state-owned, bank-controlled, and foreign-owned companies. For instance, whereas in Italy sharp divisions exist between financial and non-financial corporations, and between state-owned and family-run business groups, in Spain business groups have formed around financial institutions and foreign-owned enterprises.

Ruth Aguilera - Harvard University