ABSTRACT

The analysis by Alfred Chandler, Harvard business historian, of administrative and managerial structures in industrial capitalism characterized the British model as “personal,” the Germany model as “cooperative,” and the American model as “competitive.” Within this pantheon, the French model’s unique cyclical private–public relationship should be added and defined as ambivalent. The role of international finance, esoteric in nature, conducted among a small interrelated group of bankers, able to conjure vast amounts of capital, and to influence governments in the process, persisted, and reinforced conspiracy theories and accusations of disloyalty to the nation. Less prevalent in Britain, the image of the banker as foreign or foreigner permeated French literature. The concept of a corporate identity, of a set of behavioral and social criteria applied to an institution rather than a family or a state, took shape as a byproduct of capitalism.