Dynamiek aan de top van grote ondernemingen

Samenvatting

Norbert Elias's Uben den Prozess der Zivilisation ([The Civilizing Process] 1939) & its long-term historical perspective provides a useful tool for studying the so-called "managerial revolution." A contrastive analysis is presented of the managerial policies set by US industrialists, eg, Andrew Carnegie & Henry Ford, Jr., & Sr. During the 19th century, the giant corporations were managed by their owners. Later, however, the fragmentation of stock ownership led to a strengthening of the position of nonowner managers. In the 1980s & 1990s, the availability of large quantities of investment capital & the development of new techniques to concentrate capital made it possible to buy all the shares of giant companies, thereby reversing the previous trend toward stock fragmentation. The new owners were assisted in management tasks by the large consulting firms. It is concluded that the managerial revolution was just one of many phases in the long-term development of managing giant companies. Special attention is given to the new role played by the concentration of knowledge. 34 References. Adapted from the source document.