Social networks in boardrooms

Social networks are omnipresent in the everyday world of business. For instance, people build professional relationships to allow them to receive valuable information faster and to boost their individual careers. Economists have been increasingly interested in the networks that directors establish between different boards when they meet on a regular basis. Questions concern the development of these so-called interlocking directorates and their effects on corporate success. This book offers new empirical insights into these issues. With the help of diverse inter-corporate theories, a comprehensive dataset, and partially new statistical approaches, the patterns and performance implications of German interlocking directorates between 1996 and 2006 are disclosed and extensively discussed. It becomes evident how the directors´ social network among companies evolves and that it affects corporate performance. Potential readership includes scholars of sociology, organizational and political science, interested students in these areas as well as practitioners involved in corporate decision making.