Corporate interlocks in Scotland (1904-5)

Post date: Dec 02, 2011 3:1:22 PM

Overview

Network Dataset

The dataset name is Scotland, and includes the following:

• • Scotland.net: Pajek two-mode network with 244 vertices (136 multiple directors and 108 companies), 356 edges (directorate), no arcs, no loops.

  • Industrial_categories.clu: classification of the 108 companies according to industry type (1 - oil & mining, 2 - railway, 3 - engineering & steel, 4 - electricity & chemicals, 5 - domestic products, 6 - banks, 7 - insurance, 8 - investment.

  • Capital.vec: the total capital or deposits of the (108) companies (in 1,000 pound sterling).

  • Scotland.paj: Pajek project file with the data described above.

Background

This dataset contains the corporate interlocks in Scotland in the beginning of the twentieth century (1904-5). In the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution brought Scotland railways and industrialization, especially heavy industry and textile industry. The amount of capital needed for these large scale undertakings exceeded the means of private families, so joint stock companies were established, which could raise the required capital. Joint stock companies are owned by the shareholders, who are represented by a board of directors. This opens up the possibility of interlocking directorates. By the end of the nineteenth century, joint stock companies had become the predominant form of business enterprise at the expense of private family businesses. Families, however, still exercised control through ownership and directorships.

The data are taken from the book The Anatomy of Scottish Capital by John Scott and Michael Hughes. It lists the (136) multiple directors of the 108 largest joint stock companies in Scotland in 1904-5: 64 non-financial firms, 8 banks, 14 insurance companies, and 22 investment and property companies (Scotland.net). In this dataset, which was compiled from the Appendix of Scott & Hughes' book, note that two multiple directors (W.S. Fraser and C.D. Menzies) are affiliated with just one board so they are not multiple directors in the strict sense.

The companies are classified according to industry type: 1 - oil & mining, 2 - railway, 3 - engineering & steel, 4 - electricity & chemicals, 5 - domestic products, 6 - banks, 7 - insurance, and 8 - investment. In addition, there is a vector specifying the total capital or deposits of the firms in 1,000 pound sterling.

References

• • John Scott & Michael Hughes, The anatomy of Scottish capital: Scottish companies and Scottish capital, 1900-1979 (London: Croom Helm, 1980).

  • W. de Nooy, A. Mrvar, & V. Batagelj, Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), Chapter 5.

History

• • Original authors: are John Paul Scott (1949) ([email protected], University of Essex) & Michael Hughes (1947, University of Lancaster in 1980, not listed now).

  • Data compiled into Pajek data files by W. de Nooy, 2001.