In­vi­ta­tion for PhD De­fen­ce - Ma­jsa Sti­na Gro­sen

In order to obtain the PhD degree, Majsa Stina Grosenhas submitted her thesis entitled:

The Consolidation of the Danish Corporate Elite

Corporate Elite Factions in a Small Open Economy

The elite networks that once enabled coordinated corporate political action have fragmented, yet corporate political influence persist. Addressing this paradox, this dissertation challenges a central assumption in the corporate elite literature—namely, that declining cohesion in corporate networks necessarily implies a weakening of elite coordination and political influence. Regardless of whether corporate elites are cohesive or fragmented, the dissertation argues that it is essential to examine the internal factions and alliances of corporate elite networks to understand how political advantage is structured. By tracing the evolution of the Danish corporate elite and its “inner circle” between 1973 and 2023, the dissertation shows that what may appear as fragmentation of corporate power in Denmark in fact reflects a consolidation of power within a dominant faction of the corporate elite.

The thesis will be available from research.cbs.dk