A comparative study of interlocking directorates at the end of the import-substituting industrialization period in Argentina and Chile

Resumen

Research on interlocking directorates has been conducted primarily in the United States and European countries. Little work of either theoretical or empirical nature has been done to study the characteristics and the factors that affect this  important business network in peripheral and turbulent economies. In this comparative and historical study, we focus on the effect of the political and economic turbulence and the ownership composition of the largest firms on shaping the structure of interlocking directorates in Argentina and Chile by the end of the sixties. Four main findings result from this analysis: 1) the interlocking directorate in Argentina is more fragmented than in Chile; 2) most relevant actors in the directorship interlock in Argentina are firms in industries considered strategic by the government; 3) multinational subsidiaries occupy a central position in Argentina; 4) banks and firms owned by local business groups played a central role in the interlocking directorates in Chile. This study shows how the institutional and economic factors shape the structure of relations between companies.