Toward a typology of business groups: A qualitative content analysis

Abstract

By facilitating wider communication networks and improving the performance of their affiliated businesses in complex environments, businesses can increase their competitiveness. Understanding the characteristics and diversity of business groups is necessary for developing and implementing them. In this study, we examined the question of how business groups can be classified. What criteria can be used to separate them? We conducted a qualitative analysis of the content of 48 scientific journals published between 1999 and 2020 and selected 215 articles based on purposive sampling during two stages of screening. As a result of the content analysis, three main themes were identified: “origins of group control and ownership”, “groups' institutional origins”, and “intergroup relations”. Also, at the first subtheme level, six categories were identified: group control level, group ownership type, diversity of group relations, dependence and cooperation level, relationship structure, and institutional contexts. There are 12 subcategories included in the second-level subthemes. “origin of corporate governance”, “type of group ownership”, “type of institutional contexts”, “intra-group diversification”, “extra-group diversification”, “internal cooperation”, “formalization ratio”, “length of relations”, “external cooperation”, “geographical area”, “depth of cooperation”, “group maturity level”. Lastly, axis factors related to the diversity of business groups were used to develop a set of typologies.