Europeanisation and Americanisation: Converging Backgrounds of German and Dutch Top Managers, 1990–2005

Wouter Fioole, Hugo Driel and Peter Baalen
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Hugo Driel: RSM Erasmus University
Peter Baalen: RSM Erasmus University

A chapter in The European Enterprise, 2008, pp 155-167 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The extensive academic debate on the rise of the European Firm reveals a recurring paradox. Most scholars agree that the image of diversity is the most distinctive characteristic of the European Firm. However the concept of diversity is, by definition, hard to define and tends to elude attempts to distinguish common characteristics of European companies.1 To provide empirical evidence for the existence or the rise of the European Firm thus poses the paradoxical question for researchers of whether common or diverging characteristics across European companies should be investigated. We adopt a comparative approach and investigate if and how executive boards of leading German and Dutch companies converged with respect to the nationality and educational backgrounds of their members in the period 1990–2005. In this period, globalisation and internationalisation, in particular by virtue of the liberalisation of the European market, are expected to have influenced firms fundamentally. We believe a study of possible “convergence within European boundaries” from the perspective of the executive boards provides new insights and contributes to the debate on the rise of the European Firm.

Keywords: Educational Background; High Education System; Dutch Company; Executive Board; European Firm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-540-74038-4_11

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-74038-4_11

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