Corporate networks, the links between companies and their leaders, reflect a country's economic organization - and more precisely its corporate governance system. Most research on corporate networks focuses on a single country and/or a brief time period, however, making fruitful comparisons difficult. This book provides a unique long-term analysis of the rise, consolidation, and decline of these networks in fourteen European and non-European countries in the 20th and early 21st centuries. It revisits important debates in corporate networks literature such as the interactions between the industrial and financial sectors or the role of state-owned enterprises, and integrates studies from East European, Asian and Latin American countries, moving beyond the Anglo-Saxon view which dominates the literature. The chapters in this volume bridge the literatures on corporate networks and corporate governance - which, despite their common issues, often fail to address one another. The editors bring together the most internationally well-known specialists of corporate networks who focus, through their network analysis, on corporate governance issues.Each chapter reveals distinct phases in the evolution of national networks and explains how and why changes have taken place over time.

Corporate networks, the links between companies and their leaders, reflect a country's economic organization and its corporate governance system. Most research on corporate networks focuses on individual countries or particular time periods, however, making fruitful comparisons over longer periods of time difficult. This book provides a unique long-term analysis of the rise, consolidation, decline, and occasional re-emergence of these networks in fourteen countries across North and South America, Europe, and Asia in the 20th and early 21st centuries. In this volume, the editors bring together the most internationally well-known specialists to investigate the long-term development of corporate networks. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches, the authors describe the main developments and changes in the corporate network over time by focusing on important network indicators in benchmark years, and identify historical explanations for these developments. This unique, long-term perspective allows readers insight into how and why national corporate networks have evolved over time.