Transnational corporate elite networks in Latin America

Business or corporate groups –set of corporations of diversified sectors bounded together by formal and informal ways such as interlocking directorates– have historically dominated Latin American economies. Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño and Ardilla Lulle in Colombia, Luksic and Falabella in Chile, Carso and Cemex in México, Vale and Votorantim in Brasil, Techint and Arcor in Argentina, and Romero in Peru are some examples of large business groups in Latin American nations. However, economic internationalization, regional political integration, and global financial crisis have triggered questions about the organization of corporate elites at international level and the evolution of national business groups. In this research we wonder if there is a transnational corporate community in Latin America, and where the large Latin American business groups are in the transnational corporate network. So far, scholars have already shown the existence of a transnational business community linking North Atlantic elites, but we still ignore how Latin American corporate elites are organized at international level. Using network analysis we aim to investigate interlocking directorates in one of the still unexplored lands: Latin America.