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"The economic process of financialization is defined by many as the development of the dependence and subordination of the productive sector to the financial sector. Leading to an emphasis on maximising shareholder value above all else, the financialization of the economy and production has an enormous impact on the everyday life of ordinary people including the erosion of employment right, the rise of precarious work, and rising inequalities. Using multi-case study research and an exploratory approach, this book analyzes the financialization process in the ten companies with the highest market capitalization worldwide including tech firms, oil companies and banks. This book analyzes indicators of financialization in large corporations including a comparison between profitability sources; shareholding structure, acquisitions and sales of shares; mergers and acquisitions; the origins of directors; payment of compensation to executives; dividend payments to shareholders and stock repurchases; employee salaries; and employment levels. The data demonstrates that what would once have been considered non-core business activities have become more profitable than core business activities in many of these companies. In some cases, these companies are responsible for large investment funds and financial-type institutions which already surpass the largest banks in terms of assets under management. Meanwhile, the average salaries at some of these companies have been falling in real terms due to the rise of outsourcing and the use of cheap or precarious labour. Adopting an economic sociology approach, this book marks a significant contribution to the literature on financialization in economics, sociology and business"--

Intro -- Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- About the authors -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- Introduction -- Theoretical conceptions on financialisation -- Financialisation in the automotive sector -- The five automakers -- 2 Profits obtained through financial activities versus profits obtained through productive activities -- Ford -- General Motors -- Hyundai Motors -- Toyota -- Volkswagen -- 3 Shareholding composition -- Ford -- General Motors -- Hyundai -- Toyota -- Volkswagen -- 4 Shareholders' acquisitions -- Ford -- General Motors -- Hyundai -- Toyota -- Volkswagen -- 5 Origin of the company directors -- Ford -- General Motors -- Hyundai -- Toyota -- Volkswagen -- 6 Dividend payments to shareholders -- Ford -- General Motors -- Hyundai -- Toyota -- Volkswagen -- 7 Compensations to executives -- Ford -- General Motors -- Hyundai -- Toyota -- Volkswagen -- 8 Employees' salaries and employment -- Ford -- General Motors -- Hyundai -- Toyota -- Volkswagen -- 9 Conclusions -- Ford -- General Motors -- Hyundai -- Toyota -- Volkswagen -- Final considerations -- Afterword -- References -- Index.

"This book is a valuable contribution for all those interested in the functioning of the historical geography of capitalism. As sociology has been emphasizing for some years now, throughout the 20th century, capital has perfected its mobility capacity, subjecting communities, workers and territories, increasingly susceptible to locational blackmail, that is, to the constant threat of plant closures. This process is due, for example, to union pressure and the reluctance of other agents to ensure production stability. As these plants adopt increasingly modern practices, characterized by highly compact industrial organization models such as Completely Knock-Down (CKD) and its prefabricated and imported kits, the attachment of these companies to their locations weakens. Consequently, the trend of investment becomes more frequent. This book accurately identifies these movements, above all, in terms of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), which flood countries and regions lacking "indigenous" automobile groups and transform them into low-cost production and export platforms."