A Historical Analysis on Boards of Directors and Corporate Governances of Giant Corporations in the United States

本研究的目的是通过考察1900-2000年100年间美国大公司董事和高级管理人员的职业生涯，了解美国大公司治理的历史变迁。为此，从1899年开始，每隔20年编制一份关于25家最大公司职业生涯的数据库。对董事的分析表明，从20世纪初的所有者控制到通过管理革命的管理控制，再到恢复股东主权的过渡。然而，现在的情况需要更多的研究。其次，对军官进行了分析。由于绝大多数军官在二战前已经被内部晋升的管理人员占据，因此可以说军官的管理革命在此之前已经基本完成。军官的服役年限和学历是二战后军官的主要问题。对服役年限的分析表明，经理和军官的内部劳动力市场在1959年前是通过内部晋升制度建立的。然而，1999年的数据显示，外部劳动力市场开始被积极利用，而不是内部劳动力市场。二战后，几乎所有军官都拥有学士学位，他们开始拥有更高的学位。最近，所要求的军官学位似乎变成了硕士学位。这意味着，拥有专业知识而不是公司特有知识的经理和管理人员开始在外部市场上积极行动。最终可以说，上述最近的变化正在动摇公司治理中盛行的管理控制。

The purpose of this research is to understand the historical transition of corporate governances of giant corporations in the United States through the examination of careers of their directors and officers for 100 years from 1900 to 2000. In order to do so, a data base on their careers of the 25 largest corporations was compiled for every 20 years from 1899.Analyses on directors show transitions from the owners control in the early 20^<th> Century to the management control through the managerial revolution, and to the restoration of stockholder sovereignty. However, what is now going on is requiring more research.Next, analyses on officers were conducted. Because the overwhelming majority of officers had already been occupied by internally-promoted managers before World War II, it would not be wrong to say that the managerial revolution in officers had almost completed before then.The lenth of service and academic background of officers are main issues on officers after World War II. Analyses on service term make it clear that the internal labor market for managers and officers had been established through internal promotion systems before 1959. However, data in 1999 shows the external labor market has begun to be used actively instead of the internal one.After World War II, almost all officers had bachelor's degrees, and they began to have higher degrees. Recently, the degree that officers were required seems to become master. This imply that managers and officers armed with professional knowledge instead of firm-specific one have began to behave actively in the external market.Ultimately, it can be said that the recent change above mentioned is shaking the management control which has been prevail in corporate governances.