Financial Institutions, Subsidiaries Expansion & ROH vs ROA via National Culture

The dataset is an international firm-level panel constructed from the Orbis database, focusing on financial institutions classified under NACE Rev. 2 code 64 (monetary intermediation and related financial activities). The initial sample includes 70,961 active firms that meet a series of selection criteria, including minimum size thresholds, availability of subsidiary and ownership information, and reported financial data; after applying additional restrictions—most importantly retaining only firms with at least one subsidiary—the final analytical sample is reduced to 12,782 financial institutions. The dataset captures Subsidiary Share Intensity as a structural measure of organizational hierarchy, defined relative to country-level averages of subsidiary counts and standardized across firms. Firm performance is measured through two standardized outcomes: return on human capital, reflecting employee-based profitability, and return on assets, reflecting asset-based profitability. These firm-level variables are combined with country-level cultural indicators, particularly Hofstede’s individualism–collectivism (IDV) index, which is used to test cultural moderation effects. The dataset also includes a broad set of control variables at both firm and country levels (e.g., ownership structure, firm age, listing status, legal origin, and macro-financial indicators), allowing the analysis to isolate the relationship between subsidiary counts and performance, and cultural context.