The data collected on members of the Swiss economic elites are part of the more general OBELIS database on Swiss elites. Currently, the OBELIS database includes elites from four sectors: Political, Economic, Administrative and Academic. The elite status of individuals is defined by the position/function held in these four spheres at the date mentioned. A description of all the different samples of the Swiss elites can be consulted on the website. The data allows researchers to understand the elites through a relational analysis (network analysis) to highlight the interrelations between these elites. The data is also suitable to conduct prosopographical analysis.
There are two samples of Switzerland's economic elite positions on SWISSUbase:
1) Corporate elites
We included the top directors of the 110 largest Swiss firms, including the Chairman of the Board of directors, the CEO and – when they exist – the Delegate of the Board. In addition, we included the members of the board of directors of these firms. The data covers eleven dates: 1890, 1910, 1929, 1937, 1957, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2015 and 2020.
2) Executive committee members of economic interest groups
We also collected data on the executive committee members of the seven major economic interest groups: the Swiss Banking Association, Economiesuisse, the Swiss Employers’ Association, the Swiss Trade Association, the Swiss Farmers’ Union, the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions and the Christian National Trade Union Federation of Switzerland. The data about executive committee members covers eight dates: 1910, 1937, 1957, 1980, 2000, 2010, 2015 and 2020. There were no systematic data collections for the years 1890 and 1929, so we have not included them in this sample.
Other OBELIS projects about Swiss Elites can be found in SWISSUbase : Administrative Elites (ref. 20708), Political Elites (ref. 20691) and Academic Elites (ref. 11687).
