Beaten paths towards the transnational corporate elite

Abstract

The transnationalization of economic activities has fundamentally altered the world. One of the consequences that has intrigued scholars is the formation of a transnational corporate elite. While the literature tends to focus on the topology of the transnational board interlock network, little is known about its driving mechanisms. This article asks the question: what are the trajectories that corporate elites follow in driving the expansion of this network? To answer this, the authors employ a novel approach that models the transnationalization of elites using their board appointment sequences. The findings show that there are six transnationalization trajectories corporate elites follow to expand the network. The authors argue that while the transnational elite network appears as a global social structure, its generating mechanisms are regionally organized. This corroborates earlier findings on the fragmentation of the global network of corporate control, but also provides insights into how this network was shaped over time.