英文摘要 |
Situated within the research context of corporate control, this study investigates the extent to which the intercorporate networks of big businesses in Taiwan are influenced by state intervention and the persistent practice of Chinese familism. This study begins by developing an institutionalist approach to market governance through integrating the control imperative of state power into the framework of intercorporate network analysis, and accordingly, derives hypotheses that are tested with empirical analyses. This paper argues that corporate control is exercised through relational measures that the institutional authority seeking dominance can utilize. By tracing the strategized relations between the institutional authority and corporate actors, it is possible to comprehend how market dominance is maintained via affiliational actions in particular historical conjunctures. This paper then provides a historical survey of the investment portfolios of major, state-owned firms; identifies the underlying networking patterns, and explains three intercorporate mechanisms through which control may be exercised. Empirical analyses of intercorporate networks in 125 major state-owned and private firms during late 1990s reveal that both prominent state power and the cultural practice of Chinese familism are at work: While the particularistic networking generates a localized tendency of group formation, it is the overlapping participation of state-owned firms that eventually linked the provincial clusters of private firms together on a global level. This feature has resulted in the tendency of state-owned firms to occupy dominant network positions and engendered a network construction distinctively different from those in major industrialized economies. A dyadic statistical analysis of equity alliances among 77 major, private firms further demonstrates the structural constraints that this politicized market interface may impose upon corporate activities. Overall, analyses from this study discover empirical manifestations inimical to existing theories about Taiwan's market development. Implications for organization studies, the development state literature, and broader research contexts are discussed. |