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I probably didn't make my point very clearly. I'm thinking of groups of companies like Virgin (I'm not sure if it's properly considered a "syndicate"). I doubt

I probably didn't make my point very clearly. I'm thinking of groups of companies like Virgin (I'm not sure if it's properly considered a "syndicate"). I doubt any of the companies are formally bound to do business with any other by virtue of being in the Virgin group, but it would make sense that the companies enjoy some kind of (if only informal) "preferred vendor" relation with each other. There's no need to describe it in theory as anything else than a number of independent companies, only with common ownership and perhaps a slightly above average interconnectedness.

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
Virgin are primarily a brand, not a syndicate. Branson owns Virgin Management who are the central VC/Management corp. He has varying stakes in the other companies which vary from outright ownership, majority holding, minority holding, to brand licensing deals with occasional informal management input but no shareholding. Bottom line is the different businesses are independent. Branson probably gets perks like free travel, and maybe some of the Virgin execs do. But I'm not aware of any loose internal market or preferred vendor relationship. I'm trying and failing to think of an example of the model you're suggesting. (Which doesn't mean there isn't one - just that I'm not familiar with it. Maybe the recent Apple/IBM deal?) It's an interesting model, but I'm not sure how well it works when customers can also be potential competitors. AFAIK syndication traditionally works better when relationships are distant and there's no immediate danger of competition.