The Impact of Exogenous Factors on Business Elite’s Formation: Comparing Societies

• Main Authors: Egon Prijon, Lea Prijon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Organisation Studies, Novo Mesto 2015-06-01
• Series: Revija za Univerzalno Odličnost
• Subjects: Slovenia; state building; institutions; modernization; transition; social capital; cultural capital; and economic capital 1 I ntroduction Elites have always been an extremely in teresting phenomenon; but despite all the research they are still an ambiguous topic due to how they are perceived: as actors who promote society’s development and prosperity or a closed and privil eged group of people who act in their own benefits. Elite’s Journal of Universal Excellence; Appendix June 2015; year 4; number 2; pp. A12 – A36 . A 13 perception varies within societies; which can be the consequence of its formation and role in soci e ty. In this respect; we ca n define two types of elite; which are formed in a society; promoters of development ( developmental business elite ) and/or rent - seek e rs; whose character merely depends on many mutually connected factors i.e. social; cultural; political and economic ones; which together rep resent a society’s/country’s hi storical heritage. These factors represent a basis; which promotes (or hinders) a specific type of elite to be formed. In this respect; societies; with a developed free market economy; established democratic system and efficient inclusive institutions; are more likely to enable and promote the formation of developmental business elites; while societies with non - market or p lanned economy; non - democratic system and exclusive institutions are more likely to enable and promote rent - seeking business elites. In order to detach these factors; it is necessary to analyze country’s (society’s) profile; thus we have set a frame of s ocial; political; economic and cultural factors; which we will refer to as ” the complex of exogenous factors ” . These were further divided in two separate groups; which are still mutually connected and interdependent. The two groups are: 1.) Socio - cultural factors and 2.) Soci o - economic factors. The first group consists of : processes of state building and nation building; institutions and the process of modernization and transition; and it represent s macro components of business elite’s formation. While the second group consists of three Bourdieu’s capitals: social capital; economic capital and cultural capital and represent s both; macro components and micro components of business elite ’ s formation. The two groups of factors are analyzed in more details in what follows. The aim of the article is to analyz e the formation; role and profile of business elite. But to understand better the whole concept of the analysis and the whole idea; we have set the research as a comparative frame; comparing countries with different paradigmatic model of emergence and development . We have chosen to compare: 1.) Switzerland; the United States of Americ a and the EU - 3 (Great Britain; France; Germany); as countries representing developed Western democracies/economies. 2.) Slovenia; Russia and the Ukraine; as countries of the ex - communist (ex - socialist) block. Journal of Universal Excellence; pp. A12 – A36 . A 14 3.) Brazil; India and China; as other three countries of the BRIC group . Such a comparative frame will allow us more applicable; reliable and verifiable results. In addition; th e research algorithm is set in the way to make a distin ction between the two types of business elite; developmental and rent - seeking one. It c onsists of theoretical analysis of the socio - cultural factors and quantitative analysis of macro - economic indicators; measured on annual basis by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and presented in its annual Global Competitiveness Report; within research of countries ’ developmental potentials. In this respect; we will be dealing with the research question of how do socio - cultural and soci o - economic factors shape the basis for the emergen ce of a specific type of elite and how do they affect its role in a specific society. 2 Defining b usiness elite s Before presenting the research and results; it is necessary to highlight the topic of elites; more specifically the business elite s . Thus; d eriving from very first authors dealing with elites; Pareto ( 1915); we define the latter as a privileged group of individuals; who form the top of society. According to Pareto; elite is an internally fragmented group of people with the highest index of activity. These people gather in three main segment s of elite i.e. political; economic and cultural; associated with specific attributes i.e. power; economic resources and knowledge . In addition to these three main elite’s segments; Mills (1965) defines also th e power elite; as a group of individuals holding the top positions in economic sphere; being thus connected with attributes of power and money. From this perspective; it can be claim that these attributes or resources are mutually connected and occur in various combinations in practice . As the article deals with analyzing the profile of business elite; we will deal only with this specific segment . In this respect we derive from Figueroa ( 2002; 2008 ); who principally deals with economic elite by defining them as a privileged group of people in the economic sphere; who hold the ownership of the means of production and control economic processes; thus having a high concentration of ( physical /economic ) capital and income in the form of profits . Nevertheless; we can apply his definitions to the business elite; adding to this definition Ipsos Media CT ’s (2010) conceptualizations; business elites; and economic capita
• Online Access: http://www.fos.unm.si/media/pdf/RUO/06_The_impact_of_exogenous_factors_on_business_elite_s_formation_comparing_societies.pdf
• ISSN: 2232-5204

Country’s historical heritage, represented by social, political and economical factors, merely define society’s cultural base, which further define its potentials within all its spheres. In the article we focused on a specific phenomenon i.e. business elites, which we understand as crucial stakeholders for society’s development. Socio-cultural and socio-economic factors on the macro level (i.e. society as a whole) shape a specific environment, which facilitate or hinder the emergence of a specific business elite’s type. These components affect business elite’s cultural profile and define whether they act as promoters of development or as reent-seekers. In order to highliht the idea of the research and the results, we compared macro components within different societies, characterized by different paradigmatic models (i.e. Switzerland, the USA, the EU-3, Slovenia, the Ukraine and BRIC countries). The study revield how socio-cultural and socio-economic factors affect society’s development (toward a free market economy or toward socialistic type of society) which further define the type of business elite that emerges in a specific society.