A Core/Periphery Structure in a Corporate Budgeting Process

Many business organizations have adopted empowerment programs as a means of adapting to rapidly changing competitive environments. This paper examines the nature of ties among managers who participate in the budgeting process at a major apparel manufacturer. This case offers two primary contributions to social network analysis research. First, these data provide a concrete example of a context in which a core-periphery network structure can exist. Second, integrating the network data with ethnographic data to examine the structure of ties among managers is useful to help researchers to better understand the impact of corporate empowerment programs.