syndicate

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A syndicate is a grouping of people or companies. The formation of a syndicate is called syndication.

Word origin

The word syndicate comes from the French syndicat , which means "administrator", especially for matters relating to a specific geographic area. This, in turn, comes from the Latin word syndicus , which in turn comes from the Greek σύνδικος syndikos , German for 'administrator of a matter' .

The term initially referred to a state office that existed from the Middle Ages to modern times, for example in the German Hanseatic cities, compare for example Syndicus of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck . In the old confederation , for example in the Glarner Landvogtei Werdenberg , syndicate refers to the government ad interim, which is formed from two Glarner envoys and the two governors during the handover from the old to the new governor. In the Ticino bailiwicks in Lugano and Locarno from 1513, the bill was filed before the Ennetbirgischen Syndikat, the ambassadors of the ruling places. The syndicate also formed the highest court level.

Union syndicates

The term syndicate (French: syndicat , Swedish: syndikat), which was adopted from the early French trade union movement (cf. Amiens charter ), plays a major role in the trade union movement of syndicalism . It refers to a local, industry-wide association of workers. The German term “trade union” only partially reflects the idea of ​​syndicates, since in syndicalism the syndicats should not only represent the interests of the workers, but also the nucleus of the building of the entire society.

Corporate cartel with a joint sales organization

The cartel theory understands a syndicate to be a highly developed business cartel with a joint sales or (more rarely) procurement organization (e.g. Rheinisch-Westfälisches Kohlen-Syndikat , Stahlwerkverband ). Due to the general ban on cartels in the economy, there have hardly been any such amalgamations around the world since the 1970s.

Banking consortium

In the financial world, the term syndicate is often equated with the term consortium . This is a merger of several banks for a common business purpose such as lending ( syndicated loan ), company takeover or issuing of a bond .

Stock Syndicate

In investment banks there are so-called syndicate departments, which take on the main coordination, especially for securities issues, and manage the order book in which the orders for new shares to be issued are collected. The syndicate in investment banks also maintains close contact with the large investment companies and maintains an overview of individual market participation, financial flows and market movements.

Breeder Syndicate

In order to share the risk, expensive breeding animals, especially cattle and horses, are often bought jointly by several organizations and / or people at auctions. The term breeder syndicate was chosen for it before the Second World War . The legal form of cooperation remains hidden from outsiders.

Criminal Association

Probably triggered by the criminalization of cartels and syndicates in the economy, the term syndicate has also been in use for criminal associations since the 1980s (e.g. drug syndicate = drug cartel ). This use was popularized by relevant films, novels and non-fiction books, so that the colloquial term syndicate is now more a criminal organization than an industrial distribution cartel .

Broadcasting Syndicate

A broadcasting syndicate is an organizational merger of several, mostly economically independent television or radio stations with regionally limited terrestrial broadcasting areas. The term was originally coined in the United States , where media syndicates play an important role. Television syndicates differ from the nationwide broadcasting corporations (the so-called networks ) such as NBC , CBS , ABC and Fox because of their strong regional focus and their economic and entrepreneurial independence.

The cooperation between the individual broadcasters focuses primarily on the joint production of expensive television programs or the joint purchasing of programs, i.e. the procurement of licensed goods. While television syndicates jointly produce or buy films and series, magazines and shows, the joint activities of the radio stations are mainly limited to news programs, various verbal contributions or genre programs (music programs with well-known presenters).

Many independent US broadcasters also take on programs from public networks such as NPR or PBS or jointly buy news programs from specialized content providers such as CNN . In the USA, syndicated regional broadcasters are extremely successful, especially since they combine regional competence with programs that are attractive to the masses and special interest programs. Many TV shows (series) initially run on syndicated stations and are only later taken over by national networks or, after being removed from the national networks, are often continued or repeated with considerable success by syndicated regional stations.

As already mentioned, syndicates are in principle independent of the large TV networks. Strictly speaking, they differ from the so-called affiliates (partner broadcasters) who organize their own programs during the day and are economically independent, but at least take over the main evening program with the daily highlights from the networks at the same time . The owned-and-operated stations, on the other hand, are wholly owned by the large networks.

During the day, however, the affiliates also mostly fall back on syndicate material, which is why there have recently been many mixed forms in the USA. With the establishment of smaller networks such as The WB and UPN (which have since been merged to form The CW ) and the growing success of pure cable channels, competition has intensified at all levels.

Public US broadcasters financed by private donations are also usually syndicated and form the economic basis of well-known non-commercial providers such as NPR or PBS. There are also international syndications that are supplied by well-known television broadcasters such as the BBC or Deutsche Welle . Syndicates across national and continental borders can often be found in English, Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries (for example from broadcasters in Great Britain, Australia and / or New Zealand or between broadcasting companies in Latin American countries).

In Germany, broadcasting syndicates are particularly widespread for “private” radio programs ( BLR or Radio NRW ). In the television sector, they can be found on the commercial television stations that are mostly being set up with a regionally limited transmission area (e.g. metropolitan area TV). The Tele News Combi has existed in Switzerland for several years ; a syndicate of the largest (at the moment still pure) German-speaking Swiss regional television broadcaster.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Syndicate  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Syndicate . Duden ; accessed on March 1, 2016
  2. ↑ See SSRQ SG III / 4 [1] .
  3. ↑ See [2] , [3] and [4]
  4. ↑ Maria Karlsson, Rikard Warlenius: Ett av shekels syndikalism . In: Kristina Boréus u. a. (Ed.): Ett sekel av syndikalism . Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation 1910–2010, Stockholm 2012, p. 22.
  5. ↑ Gerhard Balicki: New trains of agricultural policy in South Eastern Europe . K. Triltsch, 1936, p. 28