Abstract

The article focuses on the Italian financial system, proposing an analysis of the relational structure among listed financial companies and its evolution in recent years. In order to detect this structure, we investigate a specific kind of interorganizational tie, emerging when members of a corporate board of directors hold positions in multiple corporations, namely the interlocking directorates. First, we describe the main features of the interlocking directorates network from 2007 to 2011. Then, for the same period we model the network dynamics through a stochastic actor-based model, assuming the influence of endogenous effects depending on the existing structure, as well as the impact of exogenous elements related to the attributes of the nodes, i.e. the business sector and the economic performance of the financial companies. The results of the longitudinal analysis confirm the persistence of business groups and informal coalitions in the Italian financial markets, highlighting the central role of the banks and the tendency for firms with better economic performance to form clusters which reinforce over time by replicating vantage. In a broader perspective, the article shows the combined effect of institutional reforms, structural features and strategies acted by individuals and organizations in shaping the Italian financial system.