The Ties that Bind : Strategic Actions and Status Structure in the US Investment Banking Industry

We applied Giddens' (1979,1984) structuration theory to investigate the US investment banking industry and found support for the notion that industry network structure impacts the strategic actions of the firms embedded in it, and that the status hierarchy component of the industry structure is reproduced by the dyad-level interactions of firms in this industry. Investment banks conform to the homophily phenomenon - they tend to transact with others in the industry of similar status. Status ranking also enables high-status banks to maintain an extensive exchange relationship with other banks, while status ranking constrains low-status banks to transact repeatedly with banks with which they have previously transacted.