Owners and Managers: Disconnecting Managerial Capitalism? Understanding the Private-Equity Business Model

The 'disconnected capitalism' thesis constructs an argument that structural tendencies within capital markets disrupt established patterns of relations between employers and labour. This article develops this argument by conceptualizing how the 'private-equity business model' (PEBM) further diffuses these connections and trends. This diffusion is so extensive that the interests of owners are now paramount in all types of business system to the relative exclusion of other stakeholders. The article defines and explains the term 'PEBM' and identifies the theoretical importance of management in managerial capitalism. The article then goes on to outline how the PEBM disconnects the evaluation of institutional capability and managerial discretion at firm level from the economics of information and direct ownership interests at business system level.