Big Business as Dependent Business: The Global Dimensions of Co-Ownership Between Agrochemical Conglomerations

• In Event: 30421 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5. Global Dependencies and their Workings

Abstract

In the last twenty years, the use of pesticides has grown dramatically, with acute consequences for public health and the environment. Simultaneously, the most powerful companies have moved away from publicly traded firms and toward webs of privately held firms. Now, a lack of public disclosure about ownership structures makes it difficult to ascertain the extent of consolidation and dependence, and likewise anticipate acute risks, such as network collapse and ultimate culpability for contamination and toxic exposure. To address this gap, we created a dataset to delve into the publicly traded major conglomerates in agrochemical production and their connections to private firms and key individuals. We used global public records extracted through Sayari Graph to analyze 2,622 entities with 4,190 ties affiliated with BASF; Bayer/Monsanto; Corteva/Dow/DuPont; FMC; COFCO/ChemChina/Syngenta; and UPL. Utilizing social network analysis, we found that these massive conglomerates are deeply intertwined and depend privately on shared ownership between one another to operate. We found that German and U.S. affiliated entities favor co-ownership through subsidiaries, while Indian and Chinese firms favor co-ownership through shareholding. We also identified powerful leaders who are beneficial owners and serve on multiple boards, both within the agrochemical sector and outside of it. We analyzed how business organizational patterns, like use of foundations and co-ownership privately between public conglomerates, interact with nation-state location. We then considered how these patterns are shaped by an entity’s business purpose, for example production (e.g. wholesale of agricultural raw materials and production of crop production chemicals) versus finance (e.g. activities of head office or activities of holding company).

Authors

• Loka L Ashwood, University of Kentucky

• Mohammad Khalilian, University of Kentucky

• Andy Pilny

• Mary Hendrickson

• Phil Howard

• Mariyam Jamila