Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-02T07:20:15.746Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Political Preferences of Diversified Business Groups: Lessons from Colombia (1994–1998)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Angelika Rettberg
Angelika Rettberg*
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario—Bogotá, Colombia
*
Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia. E-mail: angelika.rettberg.2000@alum.bu.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The article discusses the political preferences of diversified business groups—or economic groups (EGs)—based on a case study of business political behavior in Colombia. EGs are groups of firms held together through ‘interlocking directorates, holding companies, crossfinancing, and often continued family ownership’, which dominate significant portions of the Latin American economies. The Colombian EGs supported president Ernesto Samper (1994–1998) amidst accusations that his campaign had been funded by drug traffickers, despite the prospect of U.S. sanctions and economic recession. The article suggests that a crucial factor shaping EG political preferences was their relationship of mutual dependence with the Colombian state, which is based on contracts, credit, and regulation. In contrast to expectations that privatization policies associated with the 1990s' economic reforms would weaken the business-state relationship, this case shows that these ties have been strengthened, making EGs stand out as winners of the reform process.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , April 2001 , pp. 47 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2001 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Acknowledgement: A previous version of this article was presented at the Joint Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association (ISA) and the North Eastern Political Science Association (NEPSA), Albany, NY, November 9–11, 2000. Research for this article was made possible by a Colciencias and Interamerican Development Bank (IADB) Scholarship.

References

Amsden, Alice, and Hikino, Takashi. 1994. Project Execution Capability, Organizational Know-How, and Conglomerate Corporate Growth in Late Industrialization. Industrial and Corporate Change 3 (1): 111–149.Google Scholar
Baer, Werner. 1996. Changing Paradigms: Changing Interpretations of the Public Sector in Latin America's Economies. Public Choice 88: 365–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baer, Werner and Maloney, William. 1997. Neoliberalism and Income Distribution in Latin America. World Development 25 (3): 311–327.Google Scholar
Bisang, Roberto. 1998. La estructura y dinámica de los conglomerados económicos en Argentina [Structure and Dynamics of the Argentine Economic Conglomerates]. In Grandes Impresas y Grupos Industriales Latinoamericanos [Large Firms and Industrial Groups in Latin America], edited by Peres, Wilson. México, D.F.: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, pp. 81–150.Google Scholar
Bisang, Roberto. 1994. Perfil Técnico-Productivo de los grupos económicos en la industria argentina [Technical-productive profile of business groups in Argentine industry]. Buenos Aires: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).Google Scholar
Edwards, Sebastian. 1995. Crisis and Reform in Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Peter. 1997. State Structures, Government-Business Relations, and Economic Transformation. In Business and the State in Developing Countries, edited by Maxfield, Sylvia and Ross Schneider, Ben. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Fernández-Riva, Javier. 1995. Adquisición de empresas y grupos económicos. Bogotá: Asociación Nacional de Instituciones Financieras.Google Scholar
Garay, Luis Jorge. 1998. Colombia: estructura industrial e internacionalización [Colombia: industrial structure and internationalization]. Bogotá: Departamento Nacional de Planeación.Google Scholar
Garrido, Celso. 1993. Los grupos privados nacionales en México [Private national groups in Mexico]. Mexico D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México.Google Scholar
Garrido, Celso. 1992. La evolución del actor empresaral mexicano en los ochentas [The evolution of the Mexican business actor in the 1980s]. Mexico D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark. 1994. Business Groups. In The Handbook of Economic Sociology edited by Smelser, N. and Swedberg, R. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hallberg, Kristin. 1990. Colombia: Industrial Competition and Performance. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Khanna, Tarun, and Palepu, Krishna. 1999a. Emerging Market Business Groups, Foreign Investors, and Corporate Governance. Working Paper 6955. National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khanna, Tarun, and Palepu, Krishna. 1999b. The Right Way to Restructure Conglomerates in Emerging Markets. Harvard Business Review (July-August): 125–134.Google Scholar
Khanna, Tarun, and Palepu, Krishna. 1997. Why Focused Strategies May Be Wrong for Emerging Markets. Harvard Business Review (July-August), 41–51.Google Scholar
Kingstone, Peter. 1999. Crafting Coalitions for Reform: Business Preferences, Political Institutions, and Neoliberal Reform in Brazil. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Leal, Francisco. 1984. Estado y política en Colombia [State and politics in Colombia]. Bogotá: Siglo XXI Editores—CEREC. Google Scholar
Londoño, Fernando. 1996. La parábola del elefante [The parable of the elephant]. Bogotá: Editorial Planeta.Google Scholar
Nieto, Julio. 1997. Compañía Ilimitada: Reportaje a los grandes grupos económicos [Unlimited Company: A report on the large economic groups]. Bogotá: Editorial Planeta.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo. 1979. Tensions in the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian State and the Question of Democracy. In The New Authoritarianism in Latin America, edited by Collier, David. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo. 1978. Reflections on the Patterns of Change in Bureaucratic-Authoritarian States. Latin American Research Review 13: 3–38.Google Scholar
Ogliastri, Enrique. 1990. Cien Años de Cerveza Bavaria—Monografía [Hundred Years of Cerveza Bavaria—Monograph]. Bogotá: Facultad de Administración, Universidad de los Andes.Google Scholar
Peres, Wilson, Ed. 1998. Grandes empresas y grupos industriales latinoamericanos: Expansion y desafíos en la era de la apertura y la globalización [Large firms and industrial groups in Latin America]. México, D.F.: Siglo Veintiuno Editores.Google Scholar
Rettberg, Angelika B. 2000. Corporate Organization and the Failure of Collective Action: Colombian Business During the Presidency of Ernesto Samper (1994–1998). Ph.D. diss. Boston University.Google Scholar
Revéiz, Edgar. 1997. El Estado como mercado. Bogotá: Fonade—Carlos Valencia Editores.Google Scholar
Rueschemeyer, Dietrich and Evans, Peter. 1985. The State and Economic Transformation: Toward an Analysis of the Conditions Underlying Effective Intervention. In Bringing the State Back In, edited by Evans, Peter, Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, and Skocpol, Theda. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Ben Ross. 1999a. The State and Collective Action: Business Politics in Latin America. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Schneider, Ben Ross. 1999b. Why is Mexican Business so Organized? Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Schneider, Ben Ross. 1998. Elusive Synergy: Business-State Relations and Development. Comparative Politics 31 (1): 101–122.Google Scholar
Schneider, Ben Ross. 1997. Big Business and the Politics of Economic Reform: Confidence and Concertation in Brazil and Mexico. In Business and the State In Developing Countries, edited by Ross Schneider, Ben and Maxfield, Slyvia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Silva, Julio. 1978. Los verdaderos dueños del país [The real owners of the country]. Bogotá: Fondo Editorial Suramericana.Google Scholar
Superintendencia de Sociedades. 1997a. Los conglomerados más importantes de Colombia 1995–1996 según fuentes exógenas (Study No. 001) [The main conglomerates in Colombia 1995–1996 according to exogenous sources]. Bogotá: Superintendencia de Sociedades.Google Scholar
Thacker, Strom. 2000. Big Business, the State, and Free Trade: Constructing Coalitions in Mexico. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Veeduría Ciudadana a la Elección Presidencial. Financiación de las campañas electorales: Actualidad y propuestas hacia el futuro. In Veeduría Ciudadana a la Elección Presidencial. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Zeile, William. 1991. Industrial Policy and Organizational Efficiency: The Korean Chaebol Examined. In Business Networks and Economic Development in East and Southeast Asia, edited by Hamilton, Gary. Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar