Sunbelt XXXI International Network for Social Network ... - INSNA

Merging Meta‐networks: Exploring Organizational Network IntegrationFrantz, Terrill L.Organizations and NetworksOrganizations, Dynamic Network Analysis, Mergers And AcquisitionsSUN.AM2This paper presents an overall discussion of the phenomenon of sovereign organizational networks (meta‐networks) merging. Business organizations oftenmerge, or form alliances, that are essentially a “network event” that is complex and needs to be studied, understood and often managed. This paper presentsa general assessment of the challenge for researcher and managers alike about the event dynamics and the new, post‐merger singularity. The paper puts fortha taxonomy to facilitate the advancement of investigation into this marvel of organizational behavior. This discussion is grounded and based within theconcept of Computational Organization Theory (COT) and Dynamics Network Analysis (DNA), and advances ideas in both fields as well.Mexican Interlocking Directors: Kinship And Educational Background Factors To Understand Dyadic Relationships In Board AppointmentsRocha, Jorge M.Business & Entrepreneurial NetworksCorporate Elites, Kinship, Interlocked DirectorsTHURS.PM2The relationships that are formed between individuals as a result of their multiple corporate board affiliations have attracted the attention of socialresearchers for close to a century. Explanations as to the functional nature of these social structures range from those emphasizing their economic benefits asmore or less cost efficient monitoring bodies that oversee the functioning of firms, to those which emphasize their socio‐political roles as class‐based coalitionsseeking to further their interests within capitalist economies in which there is –at least ‘de jure’—a separation between ownership and control. Working withthe information of all Mexican companies that traded in the country’s stock market in 2004, the research reported focuses on how well demographic,educational, familiar/kin based, and professional history factors help explain the presence of dyadic ties between the 261 individuals who by their affiliations tomore than one corporate board create the interlocking directorate network that links all the country’s firm’s in a single network. The results show that bothsimilar educational background and kinship relationships are important factors in explaining the configuration of multiple board affiliations.