Corporate Elite Research Articles

Delineating the corporate elite: Inquiring the boundaries and composition of interlocking directorate networks.

Corporate elite studies have for long investigated networks of interlocking directorates to test and corroborate key theoretical expectations regarding the cohesive organization of such an elite and their ability and willingness to act on behalf of general business interests. These studies typically collect data on a list of 50, 100, 200 or 500 corporations ranked by economic size, sometimes stratified in sectors. The sampling approach often follows previous studies in order to increase comparability. These relatively arbitrary sampling practices are problematic because they impact the empirical results and our therefore the conclusions drawn from it. Using a sample of 3251 Canada‐based corporations, we establish that indeed different sampling criteria – that is sample size, proportion of financial firms, inclusion of state‐owned enterprises and so on – significantly impacts network properties of corporate elite networks. We establish rather disturbing differences, especially for smaller sample sizes (<100). Subsequently, we develop alternative demarcation criteria of the corporate elite based on a k‐core decomposition. We conclude by emphasizing that the sampling decisions in interlocking directorate studies should much more be carefully be thought through in future research on the topic, both in corporate elite studies and beyond.

Managerial Capitalism and White-Collar Professions: Social Mobility in Australia’s Corporate Elite

This article considers the interdependence of managerial capitalism with the historical constitution of professional work in Australia. Using data on the composition of the boards of Australia’s largest companies between 1910 and 2018, we show a deep connection between the managerial class and the top layers of professional hierarchies. Professionals in Australia forged a managerial-capitalist elite within large corporations, relying on a combination of professional expertise and signals of legitimacy that were enabled through higher education and accreditation structures. Relatively low levels of professional enclosure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries created opportunities for Australians from middle- and working-class backgrounds to move into the capitalist elite. These opportunities were reduced significantly from the 1980s onwards as pathways to managerial roles themselves enclosed and as managerialism - as a mode of production - increasingly dominated global capitalism. The result was that by the end of the twentieth century, Australia’s corporate elite more closely resembled the rest of the world’s in its homogeneity and inaccessibility. This demonstrates the central role of professions in the reproduction of Australian capitalism over time, and the influence of professional enclosure on social mobility and inequality.

Promene u ulozi političkih partija i institucija u postdemokratiji

The article discusses the changes in the role of the political parties and institutions in the modern post-democratic societies. The goal of this paper is to present and analyze the models of establishing and functioning of the political parties and institutions in the post-democratic era, their relation with the contemporary political realities in Bulgaria and in the countries of the European Community. The main approach in the study and the analysis of the problems posed to the political parties is sociological, combined with the interdisciplinary one. The models of the political parties and institutions are traced and analyzed through the eyes of the modern political science. Outlined is the fact that there is a real danger political parties to become dependent on corporate elites and the widespread political populism. Real conditions and approaches for overcoming these shortcomings are indicated.

The Color of Justice

In this review of Sara Mayeux's Free Justice, I argue that one cannot tell a history of public defense without interrogating the political, social, and legal status of Black and other nonwhite people charged with crime. Racism and white supremacy played prominent roles in the development of the criminal legal system and impacted the creation, scope, and trajectory of modern indigent defense. By applying a critical race lens to the history of indigent defense and the development of the right to counsel, my hope is to provide additional insight into why public defense has struggled to deliver justice to the accused. I also use it as a tool to suggest alternative ways to advance justice for poor people ensnarled in the criminal legal system. Mayeux focuses her account on elite corporate lawyers during the Progressive Era, their philanthropic efforts, and the legal profession’s changing identity. Free Justice unearths the legal profession’s dramatic shift in attitude toward public defense over the course of the twentieth century. Elite lawyers initially viewed public defense as akin to communism or as the socialization of the private bar, but by midcentury they regarded public defenders as exemplars of democracy and “the American way of life.” This dramatic shift, according to Mayeux, enabled most indigent defense delivery models to transition away from elite lawyers’ benevolence and ad hoc services to state financed public defender offices, legal aid societies, and nonprofits. In Part I, I identify a central tenet of critical race theory and apply it to Free Justice’s utopian framework and Progressive Era notions of criminal conduct, charity, and the legal profession. In Part II, I examine the post-Gideon fallout in under-resourced Black communities, the growth of mass criminalization, and ineffective assistance of counsel jurisprudence through a critical race lens. I conclude the review with thoughts on a different method of delivering justice to indigent people facing criminal charges.

Theorizing Public Participation and Local Governance in Urban Resilience: Reflections on the “Provincializing Urban Political Ecology” Thesis

Urban political ecology (UPE) infuses Marxism with poststructuralism and constructivism to explore the dialectic relationship between nature and society in urban environments as well as the economic aspect of an urban socioecological system. Nevertheless, the literature on southern urbanism has urged UPE to become more “provincialized” to reflect the diffuse forms of power and everyday governance influencing the planning of cities in the Global South. This article reviews and reflects on this wave of debates raised by critics who have positioned postcolonial thinking as an alternative to Marxist political economy, in which UPE is rooted. It also identifies those works that might help provincialize UPE differently. Without rejecting the Marxism, another set of approaches draws influence from the strategic-relational approach (SRA) to examine environmental issues in ways that destabilize conventionally economic determinist UPE. In addition to involving corporate elites and city officials, a UPE framework incorporating the SRA is capable of bringing the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community leaders, and environmentalists in everyday governance to the front. The article contends that the latter framework adds weight on public participation and local governance in different geopolitical contexts without losing sight of the social inequalities caused by state-led or privatized programs in the quest for urban resilience.

“What do interlocks do” revisited – a bibliometric analysis

PurposeIt has been over 20 years since the landmark publication of Mizruchi (1996) and his examination of “what do interlocks do?”. Since then, the nature of interlocks and subsequent research on the subject has evolved. This paper aims to revisit the literature on interlocking directorates through a quantitative bibliometric analysis.Design/methodology/approachThis study undertakes a bibliometric analysis of literature citing the Mizruchi (1996) to examine the state of research following up on “what do interlocks do”. This study examines 718 publications using keyword and co-word analysis, along with a thematic analysis to revisit the research that has followed Mizruchi’s topic of what do interlocks do.FindingsThis study finds that the topics of the corporate elite, capitalist economy and corporate governance have remained prominent themes in the field. Research areas that are emerging in the field of interlocking directorates include gender diversity, globalisation and advancing theoretical frameworks.Originality/valueThis paper provides a quantitative bibliometric analysis to revisit the extant literature on “what do interlocks do”, examining a high number of articles to identify areas which could be developed to advance research in the field.

Piketty, Thunberg, or Marx? Shifting ideologies in the COVID-19 bailout conditionality debate

Are crises an opportunity to push for fundamental changes? Can the COVID-19 crisis help to promote an ideological shift towards a different type of capitalism? By conducting a quantitative content analysis of the international press on the COVID-19 bailout conditionality debate, this article documents the existence of three dominant narratives: the distributive justice, environmental justice, and Marxist-type anti-capitalistic narratives. Yet, only the distributive justice assumed greater prominence during the period of observation, signaling a small step towards an ideological shift in which the general public may become more open to scrutiny of companies’ dividend and bonus policies and more averse to acceptance of tax avoidance and the accumulation of excessive wealth by members of the corporate elite. The article concludes by recommending MNEs and their CEOs to be prepared for more distributive justice challenges in the future.

Integration and Isolation in the Global Petrochemical Industry: A Multiscalar Corporate Network Analysis

abstract The global petrochemical industry has long been characterized by stable patterns of Western corporate and geographic leadership, but since the early 2000s, the global playing field has changed significantly. China has overtaken the US and Europe as the world’s largest petrochemical producer, and other emerging economies have become global petrochemical players. Combining insights from scholarship on global corporate elites, world city networks, and relational economic geography, this article examines patterns in the corporate networks of leading petrochemical corporations. The research is based on a multiscalar corporate network analysis, applying social network analysis to identify board interlocks, joint venture interlocks, and spatial interlocks between corporations. Through analyzing corporate networks across multiple scales, the research reveals patterns of both integration and isolation within the petrochemical industry. Isolation is evident in disconnected regional corporate elite networks, where the established North Atlantic corporate elite is interconnected through board interlocks, while corporate networks in Asia and other emerging economies remain disconnected. However, high levels of integration within the industry are also evident in an interconnected international company system formed through joint venture collaborations and in overlapping subsidiary networks centered on petrochemical hubs around the world. The article argues that the results demonstrate a combination of resilience and change, or path dependence and contingency, in patterns of corporate power and collaboration. Western company networks still form the social and spatial backbone of the industry, but these have been challenged by emerging strategic centers and isolated elite networks in other parts of the world. This article contributes to debates on industrial corporate elites, multiple globalizations, and the multipolar global economy.

State Political Ideology as a Corporate Control Mechanism: Evidence from China

Governments routinely seek to control the firms in their jurisdictions in order to align corporate behavior with public policy objectives. In democratic countries, governmental control of firms tends to be effectuated primarily through the formal mechanisms of state ownership and legislation. In this paper, however, we show that in autocratic societies, the informal control mechanism of political- ideological exposure of the corporate elite is commonly used as a “third way” of establishing firms’ compliance with government-mandated objectives. We theorize that through political-ideological exposure, individuals are “prepared” for business careers in which they become “agents of the state” and help implement state policies by influencing boardroom decision making. We capitalize on China’s recent (2012) political-ideological shift from pro-market “Dengism” to corporate social activity- focused “Xiism” to assess how political ideology is used as an instrument of implementing state policies. We test our ideas on a longitudinal (2008–2016) dataset of 848 Chinese listed firms. Results show that boards with politically exposed directors make the shift to Xiism-congruent behavior faster. This transition proceeds even more rapidly when firms are located in “politically imprinted” regions representing the historical power base of President Xi, but unfolds slower in regions with high-quality public governance, which are more resistant to policy swings. Our study advances the literatures on the role of political ideology in management and political institutional theory.

A new generation of business masculinity? Privileged high school boys in a gender egalitarian context

ABSTRACT While gender equality and new softer masculinity ideals have gained prominence in the Nordic welfare states in recent decades, the top echelons of business seem to constitute a bulwark against these changes. Elite corporate culture preserves more traditional business masculinity ideals, both in terms of gender composition as well as in attitudes toward gender equality. This article analyzes if, and in what ways, central tenets from traditional business masculinities are upheld among the prospective male business leaders of tomorrow. By situating the interviews of young privileged boys within the contexts of both their renowned business high school and the strong gender equality ideals that exist in Norway, this article taps into a vital period of the construction of a ‘business masculinity’. The analyses show that, while softer masculinity traits are expressed when societal issues are at stake, the school context nonetheless seem to provide a ‘safe haven’ for traditional masculinity.

The Structure of Social Contract in the United States of America: Representative Versus Unrepresentative

The constitutional system in the United States of America has maintained a systematic balance between its federal character, separation of powers and distribution of autonomy.The power of the Center over component and subordinated institutions has been ensured through a combination of the constitutional system as well as a bipartite political system. Ironically, the bipartite system's one weakness is the limitation of choice for the electorates to two candidates.In addition, the growing influence of corporate elites' exercises influences the process of elections as well as the decision-making and legislation.This study critically examines these contradictions and presents analysis of the transformation in the social contract.

Class Dominance or Fracturing? Sources of Broad Interest in Lobbying by Fortune 500 Corporations

Are large corporations able to transcend individual self-interest in favor of a broad class interest, as suggested by class dominance theorists? Or, has the corporate elite become fractured? We address this ongoing debate through a unique case: the determinants of the breadth of corporate lobbying of the U.S. federal government. As predicted by the fracturing thesis, we find that financial companies no longer have a broader political interest than nonfinancial companies. However, we also find that mechanisms still exist that foster a broader class-wide interest. Specifically, a firm’s embeddedness in the interlocking directorate and policy-planning networks is associated with broader lobbying activities. Finally, we find support for the hypothesis that the interests of large corporations have become more globalized: firms with more global operations have greater breadth of lobbying activities. We therefore theorize that while banks no longer play the same role in diffusing a broadened interest through the capitalist class, alternative mechanisms continue to fulfill this role. Together, these findings demonstrate continued support for the class dominance thesis, even in the light of any fracturing of the corporate elite.

Who Runs the Firm? A Long-Term Analysis of Gender Inequality on Swiss Corporate Boards

The recent arrival of women on corporate boards has been extensively discussed in the literature. However, most of the studies focus on very recent times. This article analyzes the presence of women on the corporate boards of the largest firms in Switzerland across the past hundred years. It shows that until the beginning of the 1970s, the very few women sitting on the boardrooms belonged to the families owning the firms. Two main factors contributed then to the progressive opening of the corporate elites to women. First, the extending in 1971 of “universal suffrage” to women led to a feminization of the political elites, and women with a political profile entered the boardrooms of firms in the distribution and retailing sector. Second, the increasing globalization of the economy at the end of the twentieth century contributed to weaken the cohesion of the very male and Swiss corporate elite. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, the presence of women remained low in international comparison, and they were still hitting the “glass ceiling” regarding the top positions in the firm.

Inside the ‘Red Circle’: the production of China’s corporate legal elite

AbstractThis article examines the production of corporate legal elite through a systematic analysis of the profiles of the first three cohorts of partners in nine elite corporate law firms in Beijing. We argue that the social production of the Chinese corporate legal elite is primarily an outcome of domestic social factors rather than international factors. It is characterized by local elite recruitment from elite universities and endogenous elite circulation within the Red Circle firms. International credentials and work experience come only secondary to education and work experience in elite Chinese law schools and law firms for achieving elite status in the profession. Yet, international experience plays a role in promoting gender equality in elite professional service firms. This article contributes to the study of globalization and elite production in professional service firms by investigating how local and global forces manifest themselves in elite production in a major emerging market.

Business schools and the Spanish business elite since the mid-twentieth century

ABSTRACT Literature has emphasized the key role of business schools in spreading US management in Europe after the Second World War but has not found how to quantify its impact on the business systems. With such purpose, this article examines the relations between the pioneer Spanish business schools and the national corporate elite. By combining an institutional approach and social networks analysis, it shows the incidence of business schools on the board of directors of the largest Spanish firms during the second half of the 20th century, and explains their role as centers for business elite reproduction.

What Matters to Kansas: Small Business and the Defeat of the Kansas Tax Experiment

Why would businesses advocate for a tax increase? They may take such a position, this article argues, when tax cuts threaten their long-term economic interests. In 2012, Kansas eliminated taxes on many business owners but destabilized the economy and exposed small business to the harshness of market forces. Small businesses rely more on state services than large businesses and are more situated in local communities. The literature suggests two main reasons for small businesses’ “enlightened self-interest” perspective. First, many benefited only marginally from the tax cuts. Second, the savings were offset by fiscal damage to state services that small businesses rely on. They advocated for higher taxes on themselves neither out of altruism nor entirely out of self-interest but recognizing that they had to pay taxes in order to stabilize the economic environment. In that position, small businesses in Kansas may occupy the moderating political role once occupied by a now-fractured corporate elite.

From Rags to Riches: Corporate Elite of Pakistan from 1947-1970

This paper focuses on the historical narrative of the establishment and development of corporate elite of Pakistan in almost twenty years which became a symbol of a success story to follow in those years. Literature cover this area under the concept of industrial development and resource allocation but less work is done on it with the Power Elite approach under political economy perspective. This paper argues that it is due to collusion and contestation of the existing elite of that time, that a new elite, Corporate, was established and then was nurtured by other elites to safe guard their own vested interest. The private investors who turn up to be big business groups within two decades used networking among themselves via family links and playing active role in politics. This act of developing corporate elites was aided by international affairs which in turn enhanced the economic and political influence of business groups.

Corporate recruitment practices and the hierarchy of graduate employability in India

ABSTRACT Policy and academic circles in India put forth the argument that the country’s demographic dividend puts it in an optimal position to win the race between education and technology across nations by expanding higher education opportunities. This article examines the recruitment practices of 13 leading corporations in high-growth sectors in India. Based on detailed qualitative interviews, it explains why these corporations are unlikely to increase the demand for graduates in ways imagined by policy-makers or proponents of skills-biased technological change. Companies in India are locked into an intense ‘war for talent’, but only for graduates in India’s top-tier universities. We argue that there is a close correspondence between India’s highly elitist university system and corporate talent management strategies, creating a narrow pool of highly mobile Indian corporate elite, but resulting in limited prospects for the wider Indian workforce. In this talent market, the success of the top corporate elite rests on keeping the elitist character of higher education, rather than widening labour market opportunities. This paper also seeks to explain why top corporations in India engage in this ‘war for talent’ when they are not always certain their investments pay off.

The transnationalist US foreign‐policy elite in exile? A comparative network analysis of the Trump administration

AbstractThe presidency of Donald Trump – often framed as a result of a populist revolt against the elites of Washington and Wall Street – and his apparent break with the postwar liberal internationalist foreign‐policy elite consensus, has raised fundamental questions about the future of elite power in the USA and the implications for its global role. As established by previous research, America's foreign‐policy elite has in the past decades been closely connected to transnationally oriented corporate elite networks, the theme of this special issue. In this article, we address to what extent the Trump presidency represents a real rupture with these extant power structures in the American political system and its foreign‐policy establishment. We present the first systematic mapping and social network analysis of Trump, his cabinet and his White House advisers, which, based on a novel biographical data set, compares earlier findings on the elite networks of the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. While finding some strong continuities, the Trumpian foreign‐policy elite is shown to display some very distinctive characteristics, particularly with respect to a lack of previous political affiliations, ties with a different kind of corporate elite, and a disconnect with the policy‐planning networks that have been so central to the previous administrations.

Becoming Linked In: Leveraging Professional Networks for Elite Surveys and Interviews

ABSTRACTFinding and recruiting survey and interview participants remains an important and time-consuming process for mixed methods researchers. For those operating in cross-cultural contexts, these barriers are particularly salient as researchers must overcome both geographic and cultural distances. Traditional recruitment methods often leave researchers reliant on available corporate directories and ‘gatekeepers’ for access to and recruitment of corporate elites. Drawing on our research conducting elite surveys and interviews in the Middle East, we share our experiences – both good and bad – utilizing professional networking platforms, such as LinkedIn, to overcome the obstacles associated with contacting individuals, building trust, and recruiting participants. However, these new approaches are not without drawbacks, and public concerns over government and researcher use of such platforms has challenged the ability to make connections. Our intent is to contribute to on-going discussions of what it means to be “in the field” as we reflect on how to navigate an ever-changing cyber-space.