New Velux Foundation Grant awarded to CBS researchers

Associate Professor Christoph Houman Ellersgaard explains more about the project.

The project will investigate whom are the network ties of large corporations – to other corporations, but also to other elite actors in politics, science, state administration or culture and what inspires and enables them to make strategic changes. We focus on the long-standing ties and long-term historical developments, enabling us to look at a variety of cases from the 20th and 21st century.

The project will combine historical accounting data with data on elite networks gathered through the Danish equivalent of Who’s Who – Kraks Blå Bog.

What are you hoping to achieve with the project?
 
We are interested in how corporations use networks to adapt to changes such as the green transition or the opening of the common market. Furthermore, we want to understand how networks shape strategic decision making when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. Lastly, we explore how networks are used by corporations in times of crisis, and to what extent they can help us understand which corporations manage to perform a turnaround of fortunes.

Understanding how connections to other elite actors are used by corporations can enable us to understand the necessary conditions for successful adaptation to future challenges, not least regarding the green transition.

Additional information about the CLONE project

As society changes, large corporations have to adapt strategically. In this context, the networks of managers constitute a key resource a source of information and towards building alliances. Our knowledge of how different types of network embeddedness affect the strategic opportunities of firms across different historical periods is however still limited. This includes whether corporate networks can explain why some corporations stagnate, whereas others manage to right the ship. And how networks of corporations affect strategic choices regarding mergers and acquisitions. The CLONE project explores how embeddedness in historical networks affects the strategic decisions made by large corporations between 1910-2020. This is studied by creating a unique database, combining historical data on accounts and networks. By doing this, the project extends the understanding of how corporations learn from and find alliances through networks.

Facts about The Velux Foundations core group programme:

From fringe to basic research: Seven humanities projects make us wiser. VELUX FONDEN’s core group programme supports free, original basic research in the humanities and related social sciences. This year, DKK 42 million will be awarded to seven research projects at Aarhus University, Copenhagen Business School (CBS), University of Copenhagen and Roskilde University.

To find out more about The Velux Foundations click here.