ABSTRACT
The office, rather than the shop, provides the background for most of these executives. It should also be noted that 1 per cent of the men studied began their careers as owners of businesses. In summary of interfirm mobility, the business elite are highly mobile in this as well as in other ways. The length of the business career before achieving a top business position was longest for the sons of laborers–26 years–and shortest for sons of major executives–20.6 years. Men from higher occupational backgrounds enter business at relatively older ages. In the exhortative literature on business success, most notably in commencement addresses, the expansion of American business is treated as an important dimension in occupational mobility. What gains such marriages bring lie in the social rather than in the economic area. These men seem to advance on their merit or through social advantages which are part of the total business situation.
