Multi-layered subsidiary ownership now prevails over the multidivisional corporate form in the US

Evidence

Evidence suggests that subsidiary ownership is far from a trivial phenomenon in the US economy.Indeed, Boies and Prechel (2002) argue that the ‘multi-layered subsidiary form’ has replaced the multidivisional firm as the modus operandi of the contemporary American corporation. As such, the implications of this development warrant careful consideration. There are two separate issues here: first, the possibility that changing ownership patterns might artificially inflate dividends and thereby distort estimates of portfolio income; and second, the potential for the non-financial ownership of financial subsidiaries to blur the lines between sectors of the economy. — Greta R. Krippner, The Financialization of the American…, 89

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘Grafting & Growth’ essay’s framing of corporate structures as underused analytical infrastructure — here subsidiary form as a structural device shaping economic measurement. — connects to: Non-financial firms increasingly resemble financial corporations through revenue reliance — Greta R. Krippner, The Financialization of the American…, 136; Hostile takeovers in the 1980s drove the financialization of corporations — Gerald F. Davis & Suntae Kim, Financialization of the Economy, 49

Related

• Corporate spin-offs inflate portfolio income measures independently of financial orientation (similarity 0.80)
• Non-financial firms increasingly resemble financial corporations through revenue reliance (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Non-financial firms increasingly resemble financial corporations through revenue reliance #complicates (0.75) — Greta R. Krippner, The Financialization of the American…, 136
• Hostile takeovers in the 1980s drove the financialization of corporations #expands (0.70) — Gerald F. Davis & Suntae Kim, Financialization of the Economy, 49