Traditionally, much of big business in the industrialized Western world has been organized around particular corporate societies—notoriously referred to as “old boy” networks. With the recent drift toward a more liberal market economy, however, these networks have been showing signs of decline—in some cases, all but disappearing. Eelke M. Heemskerk combines formal network analysis and interviews with key members of the corporate elite in order to examine how this decline has affected Dutch capitalism. Even in a liberal market economy, however, corporate directors need social networks to communicate and coordinate their strategic decisions, and Decline of the Corporate Community considers the shift of the corporate elite to the new private and informal circles where networking takes place.
Author(s): Eelke M. Heemskerk
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 256
Cover......Page 1
Table of Contents......Page 6
Tables and Figures......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
Corporate Communities, Governance and Control......Page 16
Decline of the Corporate Network......Page 46
The End of the Old Boys Network......Page 80
The Corporate Elite's Informal Networks......Page 102
Formalisation and Governance......Page 132
Conclusions......Page 156
Appendix I: Mergers and Acquisitions in Banking......Page 172
Appendix II: Glossary......Page 176
Appendix III: List of Top 250 Firms in the Netherlands......Page 180
Appendix IV: Big Linkers......Page 208
Appendix V: Meetings of the Interviewees......Page 212
Notes......Page 214
Literature......Page 232
Index......Page 250
