Promoting both competitiveness and tropical forest sustainability among corporate players is a major challenge. Southeast Asia has become a laboratory of globalization processes, where the development and success of agribusiness transnationals raises questions about their commitment to environmental concerns. An abundance of literature discusses what determines the behavior and success of Asian corporations, with a particular emphasis on cultural factors. Our hypothesis is that financial factors, such as ownership structure, may also have a fundamental role. We analyzed the audited hundreds of major Asian agribusiness companies. Using network analysis, we deciphered how they relate to each other and determine the behavior of the transnationals to which they belong. We compared various metrics. We found that ownership structures reflect differences in flexibility, control and transaction costs, but not in ethnicities. The ownership structure of the shareholdings explains major differences in competitiveness and flexibility. Capital and its control, and flexibility explain 97% of the environmental behavior. For the first time, the inner mechanisms of corporate governance are unraveled in agricultural and forest sustainability. New implications such as the convergence of environmental sustainability with family business sustainability emerged. (Texte intégral)