Bob Benmosche, the amiably loud-mouthed chief executive of AIG, took his victory tour to London this week. “We are free at last,” he rejoiced to his fellow bosses as the US Treasury sold the last of its AIG stake. Read more
Networks and the risk of relying on who you know
Are networks both good and bad? Getty Images
The assumption that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” has informed business and politics for decades, even centuries. But the benefits of strong networks – and networking – are shadowed by threats. When is a network too cosy, and, if you’re outside the network, how would you know?
The Corporate Library – now part of GMI Ratings, the governance research group – has for years been developing tools to answer this question, particularly in the US. In 2002, researchers there did some bespoke research for the Financial Times looking at cross-company links among directors of the FT 500 list of the world’s largest listed companies. It revealed that because of multi-tier boards in continental Europe, the most closely connected directors oversaw French and German companies, such as BNP Paribas and Allianz. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
John Gapper is an associate editor and the chief business commentator of the FT.
He has worked for the FT since 1987, covering labour relations, banking and the media. He is co-author, with Nicholas Denton, of 'All That Glitters', an account of the collapse of Barings in 1995.
Andrew Hill is an associate editor and the management editor of the FT. He is a former City editor, financial editor, comment and analysis editor, New York bureau chief, foreign news editor and correspondent in Brussels and Milan.
Latest columns by John and Andrew