Restructuring Modernity: The Hong Kong Banking Sector

This chapter is dedicated to the question of whether the supposed de-territorialization of the financial world also applies to its protagonists. The author examines to what extent the internationalization of top management follows that of organizations and if new principles of capitalist corporate management are established along with it. She investigates the selection mechanisms fostering the global banking elite in the top 50 Hong Kong banks through quantitative life course analysis. In addition, she uses a qualitative collective mindset analysis to examine which action orientations are valid in the everyday practice of top managers. It becomes apparent that both the socialization within the organization and the economic-cultural history of Hong Kong influence the emergence of new institutional arrangements.