what's the difference between an affiliation and a subsidiary of a company?

Answer 1

When companies are affiliated, they cooperate together and will sometimes do things like referring business to each other; usually what one company does reflects on its affiliates as well. A subsidiary is like a smaller offshoot that is usually technically individual for the purposes of management/taxation/etc but still answers to the parent company. Sometimes a company will develop a subsidiary, but other times it will take over a smaller company and essentially convert it.