α-Indirect Control in Onion-like Networks
We propose a fast, accurate, and scalable algorithm to detect ultimate controlling entities in global corporate networks. α-ICON uses company-participant links to identify super-holders who exert control in networks with millions of nodes.By exploiting onion-like properties of such networks we iteratively peel off the hanging vertices until a dense core remains. This procedure allows for a dramatic speed-up, uncovers meaningful structures, and handles circular ownership by design.
Read our paper with the applications. As a toy example, consider the below corporate network where α-ICON designates Mr Philip Mactaggart (in green) as the super-holder exerting control over all other entities, directly or indirectly held:
## Installation
To replicate the analysis you need to clone this repository to your local machine. Then you need to install the required versions of R dependencies listed in `DEPENDENCIES`. `code/helper_functions/install_dependencies.r` automates this step, but you may still need to install the underlying libraries manually with [Homebrew](https://brew.sh) or `apt-get`, depending on your platform. Finally, you need to declare the environment variable `ALPHAICON_PATH` in bash pointing to the repository. Or, better yet, you can add it in your `.Renviron` with
```console
user:~$ echo 'ALPHAICON_PATH="path_to_cloned_repository"' >> ~/.Renviron
```
The repository does not contain any data due to its size (10+ GB unpacked); most files in `data/` and `output/` folders are zero-byte placeholders. We provide a 