The Swiss Business Elite (1980-2000): How the Changing Composition of the Elite Explains the Decline of the Swiss Company Network

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_6D594B38339D
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The Swiss Business Elite (1980-2000): How the Changing Composition of the Elite Explains the Decline of the Swiss Company Network
Journal
Economy and Society
Author(s)
Bühlmann Felix, David Thomas, Mach André
ISSN-L
0308-5147
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2012
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
41
Number
2
Pages
199-226
Language
english
Abstract
In this paper we analyse the decline of the Swiss corporate network between 1980 and 2000. We address the theoretical and methodological challenge of this transformation by the use of a combination of network analysis and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). Based on a sample of top managers of the 110 largest Swiss companies in 1980 and 2000 we show that, beyond an adjustment to structural pressure, an explanation of the decline of the network has to include the strategies of the fractions of the business elites. We reveal that three factors contribute crucially to the decline of the Swiss corporate network: the managerialization of industrial leaders, the marginalization of law degree holders and the influx of hardly connected foreign managers.
Keywords
business elites, capitalism, Switzerland, financialization, networks, field
Create date
04/05/2012 18:20
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:27
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