Elite Networks in Germany and Britain

Networks may be considered as a configuration of firms which are connected to one another by managers or as a configuration of managers who meet each other on the board of directors of large firms. The first type of network is called the corporate network (interlocks), while the second is known as the network of the economic elite. This chapter explores the elite network and the relationship between ownership and managerial control within this network in Germany and Great Britain, but first a comparison of corporate networks versus elite networks is presented. Managers base their dominance on a number of different resources and on various forms of legitimation, including bureaucratic power, property rights, and social capital. It is the combination of these various resources that enables managers to underpin their position of power. Four hypotheses show more precisely how different resources are combined: executive and controlling functions on the board of directors; managerial and ownership functions within a network of firms which are linked to one another by shareholdings (ownership) and by interlocks; bureaucratic power; social capital within the elite network.