1st Edition

The Power of Corporate Networks A Comparative and Historical Perspective

Edited By Thomas David, Gerarda Westerhuis Copyright 2015
    368 Pages 57 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    368 Pages 57 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Corporate networks, the links between companies and their leaders, reflect a country’s economic organization and its corporate governance system. Most research on corporate networks focuses on individual countries or particular time periods, however, making fruitful comparisons over longer periods of time difficult. This book provides a unique long-term analysis of the rise, consolidation, decline, and occasional re-emergence of these networks in fourteen countries across North and South America, Europe, and Asia in the 20th and early 21st centuries.

    In this volume, the editors bring together the most internationally well-known specialists to investigate the long-term development of corporate networks. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches, the authors describe the main developments and changes in the corporate network over time by focusing on important network indicators in benchmark years, and identify historical explanations for these developments. This unique, long-term perspective allows readers insight into how and why national corporate networks have evolved over time.

    Preface Frans Stokman  1. Comparing Corporate Networks in a Long Term Perspective Thomas David and Gerarda Westerhuis  Part I: Large Developed Economies  2. The Decline of the American Corporate Network, 1960-2010 Todd Schifeling and Mark S. Mizruchi  3. The Structure of Networks: The Transformation of UK Business 1904 – 2010 Gerhard Schnyder and John F. Wilson  4. The Corporate Network in Germany 1896 – 2010 Paul Windolf  Part II: Small European Economies  5. The Dutch Corporate Network: Considering its Persistence Gerarda Westerhuis  6. From National Cohesion to Transnationalization: the Changing Role of Banks in the Swiss Company Network (1910-2010) Stéphanie Ginalski, Thomas David and André Mach  7. Austria Inc. (1937-2008) under Strain: The Fading Power of Creditanstalt Bank and the End of the Nationalised Industry Philipp Korom  Part III: State Capitalism?  8. Ebbs and Flows of French Capitalism Pierre François and Claire Lemercier  9. Persistent and Stubborn: The State in Italian Capitalism 1913-2001 Alberto Rinaldi and Michelangelo Vasta  Part IV: "Peripheral" Europe  10. Business Coalitions and Segmentation: Dynamics of the Portuguese Corporate Network Álvaro Ferreira da Silva and Pedro Neves  11. Bulgarian Business Elite, 1900s–2000s Martin Ivanov and Georgi Ganev  12. "From Dense to Loose?" Corporate Networks and Interlocks in Finnish Business in the Twentieth Century Susanna Fellman, Kari-Matti Piilahti and Valtteri Härmälä  Part V: Developed Economies in Asia and Latin America  13. Longitudinal Study of Interlocking Directorates in Argentina and Foreign Firms’ Integration into Local Capitalism (1923–2000) Andrea Lluch and Erica Salvaj  14. Between State Power and Familism: the Directorate Interlock Network in Taiwan throughout the Twentieth Century Zong-Rong Lee and Thijs A. Velema  15. Evolution of Corporate Networks in Twentieth Century Japan Satoshi Koibuchi and Tetsuji Okazaki

    Biography

    Thomas David is a Professor in the Institute of Economic and Social History at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

    Gerarda Westerhuis is Researcher at the Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University, and Lecturer at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands.

    "This is the first truly global and historical analysis of corporate networks. The editors have managed to bring together the leading experts in the field, and the book has rich and detailed information covering fourteen countries over the 20th and 21st Centuries. A must-read for anybody interested in power in companies."Abe De Jong, Erasmus University, The Netherlands