Korea's "Chaebol" business groups built densely knitted equity crossholding ties during the 1980s and 1990s, which allowed the owner's family to exercise enormous control rights greatly exceeding their cash flow rights. This defining characteristic of "Chaebol" once made them look invincible, totally protected from outside attacks. However, the unprecedented takeover crises of Korea's best-known "Chaebol" such as Hyundai and SK force us to reconsider the traditional wisdom.

What explains the crises? In his talk, Dr. Chang will track the changes in the "Chaebol" equity network since 1997 and argue that the takeover crises are the result of constraints on the dynamics of hierarchically organized networks by the opening up of the financial market, changing state-business relations, and family circumstances.

Dukjin Chang is an assistant professor in the Sociology Department at Seoul National University. He is currently a visiting professor in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1999. He has written extensively on Chaebol business groups and social networks in the cyberspace.