The weight and role played by listed companies: A discrepancy between statistical and structural indicators

Abstract

Most studies on ownership structures at industry or geographic level limit the analysis only to listed or public companies. This choice is due to the paucity of data concerning limited liability companies and it is usually justified by the supposition that listed or public companies account for the major part of the economic variables. Through an empirical study on the EU28 aerospace industry, we show that while this justification can (partially) work for the statistical dimension, it definitely lacks support when concerning the structural (network) dimension