Men and Women of the Global Corporation

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Men and Women of the Global Corporation

• Clifford L. Staples
• Heather Jackson
• Department of Sociology
• University of North Dakota

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From globalization to Global Capitalism

• Some refer to it as globalization.
• Others of us refer to it as the spread of global
  capitalism, and are associated with the Global
  Capitalism School (Marx, Gramsci, Sklair,
  Robinson, Harris, et al.)

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Global Capitalism School Assumptions

• Classes, not nation-states, are fundamental
  social forces.
• Classes are relational, e.g. you cant have lords
  without serfs or capitalists without workers.
• Dominant classes at any point in history survive
  by appropriating the societal surplus produced by
  subordinate classes.

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Global Capitalism School Assumptions

• International trade has existed for centuries,
  but until recently most circuits of production
  and accumulation took place within the borders
  of nation-states.
• But as the current financial crisis illustrates
  clearly, we now exist in a world of transnational
  circuits of production and accumulation.

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The Decline of American Corporate Power
Number and percent of US based corporations
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The Global Rich Forbes Billionaires 2000-2008
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World Distribution of Wealth 2000
Davies, et. al. "The World Distribution of
Household Wealth," UNU-Wider 2008
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Research on the TCC

• There is a long and well-established tradition of
  research on national capitalist classes.
• My research since 2000 has focused on the
  possible emergence of a Transnational Capitalist
  Class.
• In contrast to a national class, a transnational
  class is multinational in membership and
  transnational in its economic and political
  interests.

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Research on the TCC

• The purpose of this research is determine to what
  extent a TCC exists or is in the process of
  forming, to monitor its evolution, and to examine
  its consequences for nation-states and citizens.

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TNCs and Their Directors

• The Forbes Global 2000 (2008)
• employ 72 million people
• own 119 trillion in assets
• are worth 39 trillion in market cap
• earn 30 trillion in revenues
• earn 2.4 trillion in profits.
• control about 40 of GWP

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TNCs and Their Directors

• By any measure, the CEOs and directors of the
  worlds largest corporations are some of the
  worlds most powerful people and so are worth
  studying.

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TNCs and Their Directors

• But because they also control transnational
  circuits of production and accumulation they are
  of particular interests to the Global Capitalism
  School because they form the core of any
  Transnational Capitalist Class.

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Focus of Current Research

• Researchers have looked at two key indicators of
  increasing transnationality among the worlds
  largest corporations and directors
• Transnational director interlocks
• Multinationality of corporate boards

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Board Globalization

• In 1993 only 35 of the top 100 most
  transnational firms had and foreigners on their
  boards by 2005 75 had at least one non-national
  on the board.
• Data for the Fortune Global 500 (2006) show an
  overall average of 50.4 with at least one
  foreigner on the board.
• Board Globalization in the Worlds Largest TNCs
  19932005 Corporate Governance An International
  Journal 2007, 237247)

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Board Globalization
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Global Capital Globalized Boards

• Between 1993 and 2004 the number of cross-border
  MAs increased dramatically.
• The evidence on the relationship between
  cross-border MAs and board globalization showed
  that
• firms that were involved in a mega-deal worth
  1 billion or more were considerably more likely
  to have a globalized board of directors than the
  firms that did no such deals
• Cross-Border Acquisitions and Board
  Globalization in the Worlds Largest TNCs
  19952005 The Sociological Quarterly 49 (2008)
  3151

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Transnational Capital Globalized Boards
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Number of Countries Represented on Boards of
Directors Percentage Distribution by Region in
2006
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Number of Firm-to-Firm Ties among Fortune Global
500 Firms in 1998 and 2006
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Women in Global Corporate Elite

• Research on the TCC to this point has ignored the
  sex of corporate directors
• While studies of women on corporate boards exist,
  most are based on national or regional samples

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Men and Women of the FG500 2006
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Sex by Number of Boards
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Sex by Foreign Board Service
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Sex by Transnational Interlocks
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Sex by U.S./Non-U.S. Citizenship
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Sex and CEOs
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Women CEOs of FG500 2006
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Women in the Global Corporate Elite

• American women are most numerous. Why?
• The near-exclusion of women from the CEO ranks
  means that emerging TCC interest groups are
  likely to be largely all-male domains. e.g.
  the North American Competitiveness Council.

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The TCC at Work

• Security and Prosperity Partnership of North
  America, also known as NAFTA 2.0 seeks deep
  intergration of the U.S., Canadian, and Mexican
  economies. Key advisors are 30 CEOs from each
  country (the North American Competitiveness
  Council)
• These 30 individuals, two of whom are women, have
  significant transnational ties within North
  America and beyond.