Where is the backbone of the transnational corporate elite?

Abstract

The transnationalization of corporate activities has contributed to a rise in the number of transnational professionals and transnational corporate elite members. These transnational actors establish ties within and across national borders and contribute to the formation of a more connected global corporate network. And yet little is known about the geographical locations through which these transnational corporate elites operate, both nationally and internationally. This article aims to fill this gap by applying the network backbone detection algorithm to detect the global cities that are connected through the operations of the transnational corporate board members. The article detects the backbone of around 300 global cities, centered around London, New York and Hong Kong. The findings show that the backbone is currently structuring over a set of border‐crossing communities and expanding to the locations beyond the Anglophone corporate world. The study interprets the presence of these new communities as the first signs toward the convergence of practices, norms and possibly identities of national elite members.