Towards a 'Managerial Revolution' in European Business? The transformation of Danish and Spanish Big Business, 1973-2003

This article examines the growth strategies and ownership of the 40 largest corporations in Spain and Denmark from 1973 to 2003 in the light of European economic integration. It follows the tradition of the Harvard Program and builds on the work of Richard Whittington and Michael Mayers on the history of European corporations. These studies have been extended in three ways: geographically, introducing a small north European and a medium sized south European economy; methodologically by supplementing internationalization to diversification as main growth strategies; and chronologically by analysing three decades of corporate changes, 1973-2003. The result showed no convergence in diversification or ownership patterns while in both countries the largest corporations were less market oriented and more international at the end of the period.