Interlocking Directorates in Swedish Big Business in the Early 20th Century

Abstract

The growth of big business in Sweden was closely interrelated with the rise of modern banking and a mixed banking system, as in other countries in Western Europe (Teichova 1992; Olsson 1991, 1993).2 In this context the question of the structure and role of interlocking directorates, connecting business and banking, becomes crucial in further exploring and thus understanding the interaction between banks and industry? However, until recently, there have been only a few studies in which Swedish interlocks are examined empirically, with the systematic use of such methods as those associated with the network approach. The aim of this article is to describe patterns of interlocking directorates in Swedish big business in the period between 1903 and 1939, with special emphasis on the position of the banks in a historical context. The role of personal networks and the structure and importance of interlocking directorates between business and finance are still a matter of debate in the social sciences. Mizruchi & Galaskiewicz (1993) review three different research approaches regarding interorganizational relations, '. . . the resource dependence model, the social class framework, and the institutional model* (Mizruchi & Galaskiewicz, 1993:46).4 They conclude that much of the work regarding interlocking directorates is actually based on more than one of these traditions, especially with regard to the resource dependence model and the social class model.5 The third of these approaches, associated with the institutional model, emphasizes historical factors in network analysis. Historically oriented approaches in the interorganizational field discuss the long-term development of interlocking directorates. In the United States, Bunting examines the existence of interlocking directorates between railway companies, insurance companies and banks during the period between 1816 and 1912 (Bunting 1983). William Roy studied a larger set of companies between 1886 and 1905 and concluded that the