Patterns of web linking to heterogeneous groups of companies : The case of stock exchange indexes

Purpose – The paper seeks to extend co‐link analysis to web sites of heterogeneous companies belonging to different industries and countries, and to cluster companies by industries and compare results from different countries. Design/methodology/approach – Web sites of 255 companies that belong to five stock exchange indexes were included in the study. Data on co‐links pointing to these web sites were gathered using Yahoo!. Co‐link data were analyzed using multidimensional scaling (MDS) to generate MDS maps that would position companies based on their co‐link counts. Findings – Comparisons of results across different countries and economies showed the following overall pattern: companies whose businesses are information‐based tend to form well‐defined clusters, while companies operating on a more traditional business model tend not to form clear groups. A comparison between the EU zone and the USA suggests that the EU economy is not well integrated yet. Practical implications – The findings from the study suggest the possibility of using co‐link analysis to distinguish information‐based industries from traditional industries. Originality/value – The paper extends co‐link analysis from a single industry to heterogeneous industries with global and complex business phenomena.