Business Groups in Emerging Markets: Paragons or Parasites?

The ubiquity and diversity of business groups make the study of this institution fascinating. Conceptually, this hybrid organizational form between firm and market can shed new light on the theory of the firm and its boundaries. This article attempts to make three contributions to the literature on business groups. The first is motivated by the view that the diversity of business groups around the world is due to the diversity of the underlying conditions leading to their formation. The second contribution of the study is the presentation of new stylized data and evidence on several facets of business groups that go beyond the existing literature. The third contribution of this study is to question some of the conventional wisdom in the literature. The rest of this article is organized around the taxonomy of business groups around the world.