Mairi Maclean

Sensemaking, storytelling and the legitimization of elite business careers

This article examines elite business careers through the dual lens of sensemaking and storytelling as recounted in life-history interviews with business leaders. It explores how they make sense of, narrativize and legitimate their experiences of building their careers within and beyond large organizations. The research contribution is twofold. First, we explicate the sensemaking processes embedded within the multifarious stories recorded in life-history interviews, identified as locating, meaning-making and becoming. Second, we contribute to the literature on legitimacy by examining how business leaders use their storytelling as a vehicle for self-legitimization, (re)framing their accounts of their own success and justifying their position to themselves and others. In a world where reputations are hard won but easily lost, business leaders must nurture a life-history narrative which is socially desirable if their careers are to remain on track. This may serve them well through the creative evolution of their organizational journeys.

Dominant Corporate Agents and the Power Elite in France and Britain

Corporate elites are not a new phenomenon. However, the ways in which significant agents gain ascendancy to positions of power vary across nations and cultures. This paper analyses the ascension of a small minority of corporate agents to positions of dominance and the subsequent accession of a select few to the power elite. Our theoretical position builds upon the writings of Pierre Bourdieu on power and domination. These constructs are elaborated and made tangible through a cross-national comparative study of dominant corporate agents in France and Britain. Our results demonstrate the extent to which power remains concentrated in the French and British corporate sectors; highlighting equally pronounced similarities and differences between the two countries. It is suggested that power elites function through governance networks to promote institutional and organizational goals.

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

Social innovation, social entrepreneurship and the practice of contemporary entrepreneurial philanthropy

The economic crisis has accentuated the social and economic dislocation experienced by disadvantaged communities at a time of unprecedented political and public interest in philanthropy. This has concentrated attention on the contribution that philanthropists might make in addressing socio-economic challenges, and on the role that social innovation might play in regenerating communities. This article adds to the literature on social innovation and social entrepreneurship that aims to integrate theory and empirical practice. By examining social innovation through the lens of a case study of the Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, the article sheds light on how the sites and spaces of socially innovative philanthropic projects may have a bearing on their success; attention is drawn to the importance of community engagement on the part of social innovators, and the power of self-organization in re-embedding communities. It suggests that storytelling by committed philanthropists may serve as a powerful proselytizing tool for recruiting new donors.

Andrew Carnegie and the foundations of contemporary entrepreneurial philanthropy

This paper focuses upon the relationship between the business and philanthropic endeavours of world-making entrepreneurs; asking why, how and to what ends these individuals seek to extend their reach in society beyond business. It presents an original model of entrepreneurial philanthropy which demonstrates how investment in philanthropic projects can yield positive returns in cultural, social and symbolic capital, which in turn may lead to growth in economic capital. The model is applied to interpret and make sense of the career of Andrew Carnegie, whose story, far from reducing to one of making a fortune then giving it away, is revealed as more complex and more unified. His philanthropy raised his stock within the field of power, helping convert surplus funds into social networks, high social standing and intellectual currency, enabling him to engage in world making on a grand scale.

Exploring contemporary entrepreneurial philanthropy

Research beyond the field of entrepreneurship has long observed the involvement of super-wealthy entrepreneurs in large-scale philanthropic endeavours, while the world’s media has endowed them with celebrity-like status. However, entrepreneurial philanthropy is largely absent from the entrepreneurship research literature. This article addresses this gap both theoretically and empirically. It proposes capital theory as an appropriate theoretical lens through which to view contemporary entrepreneurial philanthropy, and to present fresh evidence relating to successful, wealthy entrepreneurs involved in significant philanthropic ventures. The findings highlight the active deployment of a distinctive blend of different forms of capital as a defining feature of entrepreneurial philanthropy, and contribute to emerging discourses regarding the nature of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship as a socio-economic process and the sparse empirical analyses on entrepreneurial elites.

Capital theory and the dynamics of elite business networks in Britain and France

Post-print version. Final version published by Wiley; available online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

Pathways to Power: Class, Hyper-Agency and the French Corporate Elite

This paper explores pathways to power from the perspective of the French corporate elite. It compares those who enter the ‘field of power’ with those who fail to reach this final tier. Adopting an innovative econometric approach, we develop and test three hypotheses. These underline the pivotal role of external networks and the strategic advantage of hyper-agency in maintaining power; and indicate that social origin remains a powerful driver in determining success. Birthright and meritocracy emerge as two competing institutional logics which influence life chances. Higher-status agents benefit from mutual recognition which enhances their likelihood of co-option to the extra-corporate networks that facilitate hyper-agency. The objectification of class-based differences conceals their arbitrary nature while institutionalizing the principles informing stratification. We re-connect class analysis with organizational theory, arguing that social origin exerts an enduring influence on selection dynamics which inform processes of hierarchical reproduction in the corporate elite and society at large.

Reflexive practice and the making of elite business careers

This article develops a new perspective on reflexive practice in the making of elite business careers. It builds upon Bourdieu’s practice framework to examine how business leaders from elite and non-elite backgrounds develop and practice reflexivity in their everyday lives. The article draws upon in-depth life-history interviews with members of the British business elite. Elites exhibited five types of reflexive behaviour, from which two modes of reflexive practice were derived: an accumulative mode, through which business leaders reflexively accumulate capital, positions and perspectives; and a re-constructive mode, through which they re-constitute the self in response to contingences, contexts and insights gathered. Our analysis suggests a link between reflexivity and career advancement, particularly in the case of non-privileged elites. Their greater experience of navigating the social landscape may facilitate perspective-taking, enhancing multipositionality, enabling such individuals to seize opportunities previously unthinkable.

Corporate Governance in France and the UK: Long-Term Perspectives on Contemporary Institutional Arrangements

The Cadbury Report on the financial aspects of corporate governance, published in the UK in 1992, was landmark in thinking on governance, leading to the publication in Francen in 1995 of the Vienot Report, which boldly urged the removal of the cross-shareholdings which have formed the bedrock of French capitalism for three decades. This article considers the impact of this new emphasis on corporate governance on patterns of governance in Britain and France, examining matters of ownership and control, board membership and business elites, business cultures and decision-making, and responsibilities to shareholders. It questions whether the new focus on corporate governance has brought closer together the ways in which businesses are managed in Britain and France, towards a European model, or whether indeed France is gradually embracing the Anglo-Saxon model, and finds that such convergence as has occurred since the Second World War shows as yet no sign of leading to uniformity. Finally, the article suggests that the contemporary corporate governance debate offers a framework through which the past may be revisited and, potentially, reassessed, business historians being well placed to shed light on the competing natures as well as the competing forms of corporate governance in the world today.