Liberalization, democratization and the remaking of the South African corporate network 1993–2020

Abstract

Abstract Two broad, complementary approaches have defined the literature on interlocking directorates. Inter-organizational theories see them as an outgrowth of firms’ efforts to monitor and manage their commercial environment. Intra-class theories focus on their functionality in harmonizing and coordinating the political action of different segments of the capitalist elite. But comparative work on network formation has drawn almost exclusively on the first of these approaches—linking variation in typologies to the economic institutions that shape patterns of inter-firm engagement. Here I deploy a synthesis of inter-organizational and intra-class theories to understand the evolution of the South African corporate network over the post-Apartheid period. I trace out a broad trend of fragmentation as a hierarchical business system gave way to one modeled on Anglo-Saxon lines. But I also demonstrate the persistence of a cohesive core in the network, firstly centered around the historically dominant social bloc, and subsequently around the personal networks of politically connected black directors. The results show the potential of intra-class theories to enrich our understanding of how corporate networks form and change.