Corporate hierarchies

Corporate Hierarchy & Data Definitions

This section defines the data points available in Kernel’s account data model. These definitions classify organizations based on their legal structure, operational status, and position within a corporate hierarchy.

---

1. Family Position

Classifies the organization’s relationship to other entities within the database.

• Parent: An independent organization that is not owned by another company.

• Child: An entity that is owned by another company. This includes subsidiaries, branches, and regional operating units.

---

2. Entity Types

The Entity Type field classifies the organization into one of three master categories based on its primary function and legal nature.

Company

Used for commercial businesses, non-profits, and trade associations.

• Includes: Corporations, partnerships, startups, NGOs, charities, unions, and state-owned enterprises operating as commercial entities (e.g., national airlines).

Government

Used for public administration bodies.

• Includes: National, regional, and local government bodies, ministries, departments, agencies, regulators, and armed forces.

Education

Used for teaching and academic research institutions.

• Includes: Universities, colleges, business schools, K-12 schools, and research institutes.

---

3. Entity Sub-Types

This field provides granular classification based on the specific master Entity Type.

A. Company Sub-Types

Sub-Type	Definition	Examples
Operating	Companies that sell goods or services directly to external customers under their own brand.	Salesforce, Frito-Lay, Heineken
HoldCo / Investment	Entities that primarily exist to own or control other companies/assets. They rarely sell products directly.	Berkshire Hathaway, Alphabet Inc., KKR & Co.
Business unit	A unit (brand/portfolio/line/division) inside a Company that is not a separate legal entity. It packages offerings for customers but contracts through a parent Operating entity.	Jell‑O (under Kraft Heinz); Amazon Music (under Amazon)

B. Education Sub-Types

Sub-Type	Definition
Higher-Education Institution	Degree-awarding tertiary providers (Universities, Colleges, Polytechnics).
Academic Unit	A specific department, faculty, or school inside a Higher-Ed institution (e.g., Harvard Business School).
Pre-tertiary school	K-12, High Schools, Primary Schools, and International Schools.
Education System	A governing body that controls multiple schools/institutions (e.g., University of California System).
Research Institute	Organizations focused on research or vocational training that do not award degrees (e.g., Max Planck Institute).

C. Government Sub-Types

Sub-Type	Definition
Agency / Department	Executive bodies, ministries, regulators, and authorities (e.g., Ministry of Finance).
National Government	The central/federal government of a sovereign state.
Subnational Government	First administrative level below the country (States, Provinces, Regions, Cantons).
Local Government	Municipal tiers (Cities, Towns, Councils, Boroughs).
Intergovernmental Organization	Polities formed by sovereign states (e.g., EU, ASEAN, UN).
Judiciary	Courts and judicial councils at any level.

Hierarchy Example: A corporate tree can span multiple Entity Types. For example, a Government body may own a Holding Company, which owns an Operating Company.

• Government of Singapore (Gov — National)

  • └── Ministry of Finance (Gov — Agency)

    • └── Temasek Holdings (Company — HoldCo)

      • └── Singapore Airlines (Company — Operating)

---

4. Operational Status

Classifies the current "Go-To-Market" reality of the entity.

Status	Definition	Scenario
Active	The company operates today under its own brand.	Slack is owned by Salesforce, but the brand is still live and selling.
Absorbed	The original brand is retired, but operations continue under the parent's brand.	ExactTarget was acquired by Salesforce and rebranded (Marketing Cloud).
Out of Business	Operations have ceased. No active selling or support exists.	Quibi shut down completely.

---

5. Regional Subsidiary flag

We identify specific child entities that act as primary regional operating arms using two related data points.

Regional Subsidiary Flag

A boolean (True/False) indicator identifying if the entity is a verified regional branch. A record is marked as True only if it meets all of the following criteria:

1. Verified Existence: It is a real legal entity (e.g., "Salesforce UK Ltd"), not just a generic marketing term.

2. Brand Identity: It operates under the same core brand as the parent (e.g., Sony → Sony Europe).

3. Explicit Naming: The name contains a specific geographic term (e.g., "UK", "France", "EMEA", "APAC", "West Coast").

4. Market Scope: The entity operates in a specific market that is a subset of the parent's global scope.

Regional Scope

A text field defining the specific geographic market served by the subsidiary.

• Value: The core geographic area (e.g., "United Kingdom", "Western Europe", "New York Metro", "Japan").

• Availability: This field is only populated when the Regional Subsidiary Flag is True.

Note: Product divisions (e.g., "Google Cloud Japan") are not classified as Regional Subsidiaries unless they are the only legal entity representing the parent in that region. "Google Japan Inc", however, is a regional subsidiary.

Corporate hierarchy taxonomy - Version 1

The following schema outlines Kernel's original taxonomy that is being replaced with the updated taxonomy above in Q4 2025.

Data	Definition
Hierarchy - Type	See table 1
Hierarchy - Subtype	See table 2
Parent Account ID	Reference to the parent account record
Parent URL	The website of the parent
Hierarchy - Reasoning	Explanation for the classification

This section covers the immediate parent/child relationship in your CRM - see Actioningto understand how Kernel provides the whole family tree (missing parents and children)

Hierarchy types

Type	Definition	Examples
PARENT	Any entity that is not owned by another operating entity (excluding holding companies)	Berkshire Hathaway, Kraft-Heinz
CHILD	Any entity that is owned by another operating entity	Heinz, Oscar Mayer

Hierarchy subtypes

Type	Subtype	Definition	Examples
PARENT	OPERATING	Any parent entity that is not a holding company	Kraft-Heinz
PARENT	HOLDING	Any parent entity that is a holding company	Berkshire Hathaway
CHILD	STANDALONE	Any subsidiary that is not absorbed into its parent company	Oscar Mayer
CHILD	ABSORBED	Any subsidiary that is absorbed into its parent company	Heinz
CHILD	REGIONAL	Any subsidiary that is a regional subsidiary of its parent company	IBM UK