An investor is exposed to variable returns when what it receives from its involvement can change with how the investee performs, whether the returns can only be positive, only negative, or either. Variability is judged on substance: even a fixed-interest bond or a fixed fee carries variability if the investee's default risk or performance affects it. Returns include dividends and other distributions, changes in the value of the investment, servicing fees, fees and losses from credit or liquidity support, residual interests on liquidation, tax benefits, access to future liquidity, and benefits others cannot get such as combining operating functions or securing scarce supplies. Several parties can share returns, for example non-controlling interests, but only one can control.
The graph holds this control, the 0 it maps to, and the evidence behind each claim, over MCP and REST.