Acquisitions (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
		Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares	Oct. 01, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares	Oct. 01, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) Acquisitions
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase of shares from noncontrolling interest				$ 23,350	$ 0
Payments to Acquire Businesses, Net of Cash Acquired				3,628	68,946
Goodwill	[1]	$ 2,470,576		2,470,576		$ 2,392,220
Sales		6,953,740	$ 5,936,092	19,178,638	17,382,370
Net income attributable to shareholders		$ 134,630	$ 117,727	$ 348,077	$ 358,232
Basic | $ / shares		$ 1.52	$ 1.29	$ 3.92	$ 3.92
Diluted | $ / shares	[2]	$ 1.50	$ 1.28	$ 3.87	$ 3.87
Customer Relationships [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired Finite-lived Intangible Assets, Weighted Average Useful Life				10 years		10 years
Other Intangible Assets [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired Finite-lived Intangible Assets, Weighted Average Useful Life				5 years
Data Modul AG [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Additional Percentage Interest Acquired of Subsidiary Shares from Noncontrolling Interest				11.90%
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired		69.20%		69.20%
Purchase of shares from noncontrolling interest				$ 23,350
Series of Individually Immaterial Business Acquisitions [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of Businesses Acquired | Acquisitions						3
Payments to Acquire Businesses, Net of Cash Acquired						$ 63,869

[1] The total carrying value of goodwill for all periods in the table above is reflected net of $1,018,780 of accumulated impairment charges, of which $716,925 was recorded in the global components business segment and $301,855 was recorded in the global ECS business segment.

[2] Stock-based compensation awards for the issuance of 396 and 363 shares for the third quarter and first nine months of 2017 and 824 and 821 shares for the third quarter and first nine months 2016, respectively, were excluded from the computation of net income per share on a diluted basis as their effect was anti-dilutive.