Jon Press

Business elites and corporate governance in France and the UK

This book is a cross-national study of business elites and corporate governance in France and the UK. It examines corporate governance from a comparative standpoint, and looks beneath the surface, beyond the application of formal rules and regulations, at the exercise of power and authority in two distinct national business systems. It explores key issues concerning business elites, their networks, recruitment, reward, reproduction, and commonality of membership of organisations against the backdrop of an increasingly global economy. The book aims to shed light on the mechanisms that govern the stability and regeneration of business elites in both countries in the face of far-reaching change. Change has been driven by globalisation and heightened competition on the one hand, and an increasing focus on matters of corporate responsibility, accountability and transparency on the other. Are the old systems breaking down, and, if so, are we witnessing the emergence of European and international business elites? Are we observing a convergence in matters of corporate governance, in which Britain is often perceived as leading the way?1

Managerialism and the post-war evolution of the French national business system

Managerial revolutions – which witness the appropriation of corporate power by professional managers – come in different shapes and sizes. This article builds upon existing critiques of Chandlers universal theory of the managerial revolution through reference to the French national business system, arguing that the concept of the managerial revolution is best understood within specific cultural contexts, elite ideologies and national business systems. It demonstrates, through the inclusion of original data, and a business historical case study, that the French model of capitalism is distinguished by continuing links between the state and business, by the density of its corporate networks, and the large number of elite actors with experience of working in an executive capacity in both the public and private sectors, in stark contrast to the UK.

William Morris, Cultural Leadership, and the Dynamics of Taste

This examination of the social processes that inform cultural production asks how tastes are formed, transmitted, embedded, and reproduced across generations. These questions are explored through a study of William Morris, his working methods and products, and their impact on the decorative arts in Victorian Britain and beyond. Through the exercise of cultural leadership, Morris gave physical expression to the ideals and sentiments of Romanticism, and this in turn gave rise to a community of taste reaching across class boundaries and generations. Morrisian products and designs, through the agency of his disciples, became institutionally embedded, emblematic of refinement and good taste. A process model of taste formation is deployed to explore the economic and social dynamics at work in the Morris case and more generally.

Databases in Historical Research: Theory, Methods, and Applications

List of Figures - Preface - Databases in Historical Research - Database Concepts and Terminology - Database Management Software - The Database Project Life-Cycle - Database Design and Implementation - Information Retrieval - Source-Oriented Database Systems - Coding and Record Linkage - Conclusion: Databases and the Future of Historical Computing - Bibliography - Glossary - Index

Elites, ownership and the internationalisation of French business

This article is based on a prosopographical study of comparative business elites in France and Britain, drawing on the work of social theorists Pierre Bourdieu and Ezra Suleiman. The re is ev ide nce to sugge st that c rossshareholdings, at the heart of French capitalism since the 1960s, have begun to unravel, under pressure from globalisation. Yet the cultural substrata that underlie French busine ss practice s are pow erful. M ore likely than the complete undoing of cross-shareholdings is the adaptation of the national system to suit international structures. The authors argue, at least provisionally, that French shareholdings are being ceded for a stake in a wider international game, in an attempt to enable French management elites to maintain hegemonic control of leading domestic and European enterprises, in this way pre-emptively and proactively engaging with the structural logic of globalisation.

Management and the Taff Vale Strike of 1900

The Taff Vale Railway strike of 1900 stands as a landmark in the history of industrial relations in Britain. There is a substantial literature dealing with the strike and resulting court case. Yet relatively little attention has been paid to the underlying pressures and tensions which gave rise to the strike nor to its wider consequences: the focus hitherto has been on labour, politics and labour law rather than the dynamics of the struggle between capital and labour which raged throughout the railway industry. The strike resulted from a clash between an assertive labour movement and a beleaguered management with little financial room for manoeuvre. Victory for capital paved the way for far-reaching changes in technology and working methods without conceding the gains to labour through the agency of trade union action.

Tribute to Charles Harvey

This issue of Business History not only marks 50 years since the journal’s inception; it also sees the end of Charles Harvey’s editorship. Charles took over as editor from Richard Davenport-Hines in 1988 and for more than 16 years he shared the editorship with Geoffrey Jones. It proved an admirable partnership, while the contributions of Jon Press as managing editor have complemented their work in a highly effective manner. Under their leadership, the journal emerged as one of the most prestigious publications for a generation of business historians, a trend sustained latterly with John Wilson as executive co-editor. In this they were aided and abetted by Mary Rose as Book Reviews Editor, whose enthusiasm and commitment ensured that the journal would earn an enviable reputation for the quality and value of its reviews section. Mary proved a hard act to follow, but one which has been admirably undertaken by Peter Scott and Teresa da Silva Lopes, who have followed closely in her footsteps. Teresa has also now concluded her term as Book Editor, and the challenge has been taken up by Andrew Popp. Charles Harvey is well known for the diversity of his interests and publications. An early interest in international mining led to the successful completion of a PhD on Rio Tinto under the supervision of Bernard Alford at the University of Bristol, and his first major book, The Rio Tinto Company: 1873–1954: An Economic History of a Leading International Mining Concern, in 1981. A number of related journal articles on the City of London and international mining demonstrated features which have characterized his career ever since; thematic, comparative and theoretically informed, but yet retaining a strong empirical underpinning, they won high esteem. Charles quickly moved on to other topics within the ambit of business and management history, publishing an industrial history of Bristol and two seminal volumes on William Morris and the relationship between design history and enterprise – work which led to a fundamental reappraisal of the entrepreneurial skills of that great Victorian. He was also a founder member, along with Peter Denley, Deian Hopkin and Roderick Floud, of the Association for History and Computing, playing a major role in its early conferences and publishing another essential work on the use of database systems in historical research. This interest in database design methodologies led to a major project on the electoral records of London and Westminster and the politics of the capital in the eighteenth century, with Penelope Corfield and Edmund Green of Royal Holloway, University of London, which still continues to generate major publications – such as their forthcoming book on London Electors and Political Participation. More recently, he has published Business Elites and Corporate Governance in France and the UK, a study of the leadership of the top 200 companies in Britain and France, which includes a prosopographical (longitudinal) study of the careers of their board members. It again demonstrates his commitment to comparative and methodological approaches, and the insights which the development and interrogation of large-scale databases can bring to our subject. To date, he has published eight books, six edited collections, 34 refereed articles and more than 20 book chapters. Almost three-quarters of these publications have been jointly authored, pointing to another key characteristic of his career–his willingness to engage in Business History Vol. 50, No. 1, January 2008, 1–3

Theoretical Perspectives on Business Elites and Corporate Governance

This chapter examines the main theoretical ideas that underpin the analysis and discussion that follows in the remainder of the book. We draw extensively on the writings of numerous authors, notably Foucault, Bourdieu, Scott and Granovetter, and present our own theoretical perspectives on business elites and corporate governance.

Social Origins and the Education of Business Elites

This chapter builds upon the theoretical exploration of elites conducted in Chapter 2. The starting point for what follows in this and later chapters is the argument that business careers are the product of multiple ‘structuring structures’ and the capacity of individuals, as practical strategists, to master the rules of the corporate game. We eschew any form of determinism. Neither in France in nor the UK is it possible to predict whether someone at an early stage in life will reach the top. There are simply too many variables to contend with, many relating to circumstances, and many others relating to personal qualities. This is not to say, however, that there are no observable regularities in recruitment to the elite. Numerous studies have shown that individuals from more privileged social backgrounds, with an elite education, are more likely to succeed than less privileged individuals. Yet, even so, there is a great diversity of experience. Many high flyers have shown a remarkable propensity to overcome adversity, and our own research adds weight to the evidence that business elites are regenerated through the recruitment of individuals who have started out in life from towards the lower end of the social spectrum.2

Conclusion—Elites, Power and Governance

This book has compared and contrasted corporate governance in two national business systems, seeking to delve beneath the surface to examine how power and authority are exercised by business elites in France and the UK. To this end it has explored key research themes concerning elites: their education, careers, lifestyles, networks, activities and reproduction, examining corporate governance in relation to the experience, mindsets and predilections of the directors who run global corporations. The aim has been to get to the bottom of how and why the French and UK business systems function in such different ways, drawing important conclusions with respect to the future of national business systems within the new global economy.