Michael Gilding

Families and Fortunes: Accumulation, Management Succession and Inheritance in Wealthy Families

Since the managerial thesis (notably Berle and Means’ classic study), the role of the family in capitalist enterprise and organization has often been viewed as an anachronism, the remnant of an earlier era. This article uses qualitative interviews with wealthy Australians to argue that family relationships are an enduring influence in relation to accumulation, succession and inheritance. There are two reasons. First, the decline of family control in big business is not just a historical event, but also an ongoing event that informs the passage of most entrepreneurial businesses as they grow in scale and complexity; hence the enduring influence of nepotism in large companies such as News Corporation. Second, a variety of considerations - including dynastic ambitions, tax minimization and trust - encourage family members to cooperate in the management of inheritance through family business institutions, from family holding companies to family offices. These family business institutions possibly reflect the rise of ‘network forms of organization’ grounded in personal trust, at the expense of large companies.

Family Business and Family Change: Individual Autonomy, Democratization, and the New Family Business Institutions

The renewed attention to family business in western societies is usually attributed to a past lack of attention to the subject because of its private character and to the resurgence of family business in the context of economic restructuring. This paper argues that there is a third reason for the renewed attention to family business, namely, the changing character of the family institution. In particular, there are broad trends toward the pursuit of individual autonomy and democratization in family relationships. A qualitative study of high-wealth stakeholders in Australian family businesses found that the principles of individual autonomy and democratization presented challenges for family business solidarity and continuity. These challenges gave rise to new family business institutions designed to facilitate communication and trust. These institutions are at the center of the renewed attention to family business in western societies.

Motives and outcomes in family business succession planning

The family business succession planning literature routinely assumes two main motives on the part of incumbents: family business continuity across generations and family harmony. The cross–tabulation of these motives produces a typology consisting of four distinct combinations of motives for succession planning. In turn, these combinations suggest four outcomes of succession planning, framed as institutionalization, implosion, imposition, and individualization. The first two outcomes—institutionalization and implosion—are fully elucidated in the literature. The other two—imposition and individualization—are routinely overlooked. The proposed typology highlights the repertoire of motives that inform succession planning, and how they promote distinct succession outcomes.

Motives of the Rich and Powerful in Doing Interviews with Social Scientists

A growing body of sociological research on elites is done at close quarters, using interviews and ethnography. This article draws on interviews with the ‘super rich’ in Australia to examine the motives of elites in granting access to their lives and stories. The respondents of this study were largely indifferent to social science. In agreeing to be interviewed and engaging with the interview process, they drew upon two familiar points of reference — the media and therapy — as cognitive models or ‘templates’ for making sense of the process. The media template was outward looking, directed towards public relations and legitimacy. The therapeutic template was inward looking, directed towards families, peers and small world concerns. In turn, respondents were apparently motivated by contradictory considerations: on the one hand, wanting to promote their concerns to a wider audience and, on the other, wanting to reflect upon their predicaments in confidence. Yet respondents understood that neither template encapsulated the interview situation, causing respondents to shift between templates and motives in the course of interviews. This ambiguity meant that interviews demanded continuous negotiation and recalibration. It also enriched interviews, highlighting a reconfiguration of public and private worlds among elite communities.

Entrepreneurs, elites and the ruling class: the changing structure of power and wealth in Australian society

In the 1970s and 1980s there was a surge of research concerning power and wealth in Australian society. One line of inquiry was framed in terms of ‘elites’, the other in terms of the ‘ruling class’. This article builds upon both lines of inquiry, exploring the new wave of entrepreneurs and their articulation with the structure of power and wealth. It does so through qualitative interviews with 43 individuals drawn from the Business Review Weekly ‘Rich 200’ list. The article finds that the institutions at the top levels of Australian business and society have become more specialised, diffuse and far-flung than was the case in earlier times. At the very least, it suggests some kind of radical reconfiguration of connections, trust and solidarity between elite groups. It remains a challenge to develop more finely tuned ways of understanding this process in terms of class analysis.

DNA Paternity Tests: A comparative analysis of the US and Australia

Abstract There are five times as many DNA paternity tests per capita in the US than Australia. This is not a consequence of ‘technological lag’, but a combination of political, cultural and economic factors. First, government agencies in the US enforce relatively more tests, at least partly because of legislative differences in the presumption of paternity. Second, government agencies in the US enforce relatively more tests partly on account of differences in family structure. More specifically, in the US there are relatively more nonmarital births, and nonmarital births are less likely to occur in the context of informal cohabitation where paternity is not in dispute. Third, differences in industry organisation account for more DNA paternity tests per capita in the US. Unlike the Australian market, the US market is characteristically divided between tests done for government agencies and those for private individuals. In turn, the private market in the US is more competitive. In particular, brokerage is pervasive, leading to more proactive marketing through the Internet, day-time television and other avenues. The study highlights the importance of social dynamics in the uptake of new technologies.

Gambling and drugs: The role of gambling among Vietnamese women incarcerated for drug crimes in Australia

This study of 35 Vietnamese women imprisoned for drug crimes in Melbourne, Australia, demonstrates a strong association between problem gambling and illicit drug markets, notably heroin trafficking and cannabis cultivation. Specifically, problem gambling in Melbourne’s casino provided both the main motivation and the necessary network brokerage for drug-related crime. More generally, the study demonstrates the importance of socio-cultural dynamics in drug-related crimes: in particular, the social embeddedness of ethnic and immigrant participation in illicit drug markets through social relationships formed at the casino; the influence of the institution of informal lending chơi hụi; and women’s agency in drug markets, independently of their kinship and marital relations. The study also highlights the importance of minority perspectives in criminology, presenting an opportunity for policy officials to develop more finely-tuned interventions directed towards the articulation between gambling and drugs.

The New Economic Sociology and Its Relevance to Australia

This article reviews three recent books - one Australian, one European and one American - in order to reflect on the current state of play in economic sociology. Economic sociology is a fast-growing field of research in the US, and to a lesser extent in Europe, but it has barely registered in Australia. This is partly a reflection of the fact that economic sociology draws some of its inspiration from ‘new economy’ industries that are weak in Australia. It also reflects the influence of the Marxist tradition in Australia, focusing mainly on the state as a countervailing force to markets. The upshot is that the market is both a constant point of reference in sociological research, but also a ‘black box’ beyond social inquiry. The new economic sociology, in contrast, focuses upon the constitutive role of social institutions in relation to markets. It suggests promising new lines of inquiry in the Australian context.

Business collective action and the Australian mining industry's tax revolt: A comment on McKnight and Hobbs

The Australianmining industry’s successful revolt against the Rudd Labor government’s proposed Resources Super Profits Tax (RSPT) in 2010 is already understood as a landmark event in Australian political history. In close connection, scholars of business– government relations present this episode as an exemplary case. Eccleston and Marsh (2011) argue that it highlights the diminished ‘reform capacity’ of the Australian state. Bell and Hindmoor claim that it demonstrates ‘the power of ideas’: that is, the ways in which ‘business power is mediated and conditioned by the ideas of politicians, voters and other actors about the fragility of business interests’ (2013: 14). McKnight and Hobbs have recently argued that this event highlights the ‘communication power’ of business; specifically, ‘advocacy advertising as an increasingly prevalent technique usedbycorporationsand lobbygroups to influencepublicpolicy inAustralia’ (2013:307). The mining industry’s tax revolt was a raw display of business power and the limitations of state capacity. Yet this commentary argues for a more finely tuned analysis of what happened. Specifically, it questions McKnight and Hobbs’ framing of the revolt in terms of ‘communication power’ and the ‘increasingly prevalent’ resort to advocacy advertising. More generally, it argues that the revolt provides an exemplary demonstration of Olson’s (1965) theory of business collective action, and the precise circumstances when business mobilises against the state.

The power of hope: the mobilisation of small and mid-tier companies in the mining industry's campaign against the Resources Super Profits Tax

ABSTRACT This article examines the mobilisation of small and mid-tier companies in the mining industrys campaign against the Resources Super Profits Tax (RSPT), drawing on interviews with 18 industry players. The government anticipated that small exploration and development companies would support the RSPT, on account of its promise to contribute towards the costs of exploration and development. In doing so, it was guided by Treasury advice and the assumption of calculative rationality on the part of small companies. Instead, industry leaders forged a common front against the tax within days of its announcement. In doing so, they appealed to the hope of extraordinary returns – or what is sometimes described as ‘sentiment’, ‘animal spirits’ and ‘irrational exuberance’ – among mining entrepreneurs and investors, against the odds. Other researchers have argued that the debate around the RSPT highlights the ‘power of ideas’, but we argue that it highlights the ‘power of hope’.