Board structure and role of monitoring committees

Regulators and researchers alike have focused significant attention on the structure of the corporate board. In general, the results of prior empirical studies suggest that larger boards are costly to firms because of communication and co-ordination problems. How firms use committees to mitigate these costs, however, has not received as much attention. Since boards delegate authority for specific tasks to monitoring committees with independent directors, we re-examine the impact of board structure on firm performance by specifically focusing on the number of monitoring committees. Using ROA and EVA, we find that board size is positively associated with firm performance when firms use more than three monitoring committees. We also find that the previously documented negative association between board size and Tobin's Q disappears when a firm uses more than three monitoring committees. Overall, the results suggest that firms use monitoring committees to mitigate the costs associated with larger boards.     

Board diversity and firm performance: The role of business group affiliation

There is little consensus globally on the relationship between board diversity and firm performance. Using the resource dependence and agency views, this paper examines how business group affiliation influences the relationship between board diversity and firm performance as a contextual/confounding factor. Based on data for listed firms in India, we find that board demographic diversity is positively associated with the firm performance (Tobin’s Q) of standalone firms, but this association is negative for group-affiliated firms. This negative effect of group affiliation is confirmed in a test based on a novel measure of firm performance using the stock market reaction to the announcement of mergers and acquisitions. For both measures of performance, we show that business group affiliation impairs the positive firm value effects of board demographic diversity. These findings imply that the relationship between board diversity and firm performance requires re-examination in the many countries where group affiliation is common. Our results also provide evidence of a new cost of group affiliation and show in a fresh context that cross-country studies should account for international variations in ownership and institutional structures.     

Firm-level determinants of gender diversity in the boardrooms: Evidence from some emerging markets

This paper examines the determinants of board gender diversity in the context of emerging economies. Specifically, we investigate the impact of organizational characteristics on gender diversity in the boardrooms of Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese firms and compare our findings with a control sample from US and UK. Analysing data for 1002 firms between a period of 2005 and 2012, we find some similarities between developed and emerging economies on the factors determining women representation on boards. In particular, we observe board gender diversity is positively related to the firm size, and it is inversely related to corporate risk across both emerging and developed economies. Family control affects positively board gender diversity only in India, China, UK and US. However, in contrast to developed countries, there is some evidence to suggest that state ownership has a negative effect on board gender diversity in India and Russia.     

Corporate boards,large blockholders and executive compensation in banks: Evidence from Poland

The paper aims to investigate the impact of uniform board governance standards on the level of executive pay in banks with a controlling shareholder. Based on the sample of a hand-collected data on all executive pay of all public banks in Poland from 2005 to 2013, we find that board independence is negatively associated with executive compensation. In contrast to widely-held banks, independent directors in banks controlled by a blockholder provide restraint on the tendency to overcompensate. Thus, in concentrated ownership structure managerial power theory prevails over agency theory. However, the effect might be diluted as the number of board members increases.     

Dynamics of intellectual capitals and bank efficiency in India

This article attempts to examine the impact of intellectual capitals and its sub-components on the bank’s efficiency parameters for 38 listed Indian banks within multivariate panel data framework during the period from 2004–2005 to 2015–2016. The study uses the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis approach to estimate technical, pure technical and scale efficiency in the first stage, followed by computing Value Added Intellectual Capital and Modified Value Added Intellectual Capital as an indicator for intellectual capital performance. Finally, Tobit regression results suggest that intellectual capitals have statistically significant and positive but very low impact on all the three efficiency scores. At the sub-component level, only human capital efficiency has a significant impact with low value on the all three efficiency measures. Bank size and leverage are also found to be significant drivers of bank efficiency as well. Thus, the study’s findings support higher investment in intellectual capitals in order to further improve the banking efficiency and value creation in India by adopting appropriate policy by management for proper input allocations, particularly human capital and capital employed in coming years.     

公众关注、董事会特征与商业银行经营绩效——来自负面新闻搜索的经验证据

大数据技术的广泛应用促使负面新闻在公众间以“蛛网式”传播，由此引发的公众关注是否会影响银行经营绩效，目前尚无定论。因此，对其研究可为银行提质增效提供一条另辟蹊径的思路。文章运用2017-2020年23家上市银行的平衡面板数据，通过构造面板数据模型，得出如下结论：其一，因“晕轮效应”的存在，公众关注对银行经营绩效施加了负向影响，在详细讨论内生性问题和经过多种稳健性测试的基础上，此结论仍然成立；其二，声誉是公众关注影响银行经营绩效的重要机制；其三，从董事会特征层面出发，在公众关注与银行经营绩效的负向关系中，董事会规模起到了显著的正向调节作用；但是，独立董事却未发挥出积极效应，一定程度上说明在银行管理中，我国现有的独立董事制度仍有进一步改善的空间。     

Unveiling the global focus-performance relationship in family firms: The role of the board of directors

Drawing on the resource-based view, this study examines how board composition and board tasks affect the relationship between the firm’s global focus and performance in private family firms. Based on a sample of 234 Belgian private family firms, our empirical analyses reveal that nonfamily involvement in the board attenuates the negative relationship between the firm’s global focus and performance. Furthermore, our results show that the global focus-performance link turns positive at higher levels of board networking and advisory tasks, whereas board control task has no significant effect. Ultimately, these findings underscore the board of directors as a key governance contingency, highlighting its important role in overcoming the challenges of global expansion in private family firms.     

Board gender diversity and firm performance: The moderating role of firm size

This paper investigates the relationships among board gender diversity, firm performance, and firm size. Our paper provides new insights into the relationship between board gender diversity and firm performance by examining whether firm size alters the impact of board gender diversity on firm performance. We use a panel data from A-share-listed non-financial firms in China to examine the relationship during the period of 2007–2012. Our finding demonstrates that the gender diversity on the board has a positive impact on firm performance if and only if the value of firm size is less than some critical value. In addition, we also find that firm size may undermine the positive impact of board gender diversity on firm performance. This paper contributes to the literature by offering a contingency approach to examine the relationship between board gender diversity and firm performance as well as shedding light on the relationship in the context of a developing economy.     

Corporate boards and ownership structure: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines the relationship between board structure and ownership structure for firms listed on the stock exchanges of twelve Sub-Saharan African countries, using data for the period 2006–2009. We find that ownership concentration, foreign ownership and managerial ownership are negatively associated with board size. We also find that government ownership is positively associated with the proportion of outside directors while ownership concentration is negatively associated with the proportion of outside directors. These results emphasize that board and ownership structure are both corporate governance mechanisms that are used as substitutes to one another in reducing agency problems.     

Women on boards of directors: Why skirts in seats aren’t enough

Most organizations focus their attention on simply achieving gender diversity on their boards. This approach misses the point. A complex relationship exists between board gender diversity and good governance whereby such diversity can have a negative, positive, or neutral impact on organizational performance, indicating that organizations may only reap the benefits of gender-diverse boards under proper conditions. This article examines which conditions allow gender-diverse boards to flourish and which conditions lead to failure. Organizations usually increase female representation on boards of directors to achieve one of two goals: gender parity or improved governance. Each of these goals is influenced by different circumstances and thus must be approached in a unique manner. Three recommendations are offered herein for organizations trying to achieve each goal. Gender, ethnic, and cultural board diversity all share related justifications and challenges, so organizations that follow the recommendations in this article will be well positioned to benefit from all three sources of increased diversity on their boards of directors.     

Impact of board gender diversity on dividend payments: Evidence from some emerging economies

This study investigates the impact of board gender diversity on dividend payments in the context of emerging economies. Using a dataset of listed firms from India, China and Russia over the period 2007–2014, we find strong and robust evidence indicating that board gender diversity is negatively related to cash dividend payments in all emerging economies. Moreover, we find that state-ownership positively moderates the relationship between gender diversity and dividend payments. However, this effect is observed only for China and Russia. In additional analyses, we find that the negative link between board gender diversity and dividend payments is more pronounced during the financial crisis. However, the moderating role of state-ownership does not remain significant during the financial crisis.     

Understanding the Determinants of RiskMetrics/ISS Ratings of the Quality of UK Companies' Corporate Governance Practice

We examine the determinants of RiskMetrics/ISS Ratings of the quality of UK companies' corporate governance practice and investigate whether corporate governance mechanisms and firm specific characteristics affect these ratings. We also investigate the association between firms' financial distress and these ratings. Using data for nonfinancial Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 250 firms over the 2003 to 2009 period, we find that board independence, managerial ownership, institutional ownership, firm size, and profitability are associated with firms' corporate governance ratings. In addition, we find that more independent directors on the board, more institutional ownership, and larger size lead to a high level of board‐related ratings. Finally, we find no association between corporate governance ratings and financial distress. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Test of Perfect Competition in the UK Retail-banking Deposit Market

This article presents a test for perfect competition in the deposit market of the UK retail-banking sector. The model employed draws from the New Economic Industrial Organisation (NEIO) technique forwarded by Hannan and Liang [1993]. The test is applied to a sample of eight UK retail banks between 1992-97. The presence of perfect competition is rejected for all banks. The empirical evidence does not support qualitative evidence of increasing competitiveness amongst UK retail banks.     

Consumers’ implicit attitudes toward corporate social responsibility and corporate abilities: Examining the influence of bank governance using the implicit association test

In studying corporate association valence for two dimensions: corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate abilities (CA), this paper aims to investigate how corporate governance may contribute to brand equity. Using an experimental design, this research measures implicit consumers attitudes with two implicit association tests (IAT) to assess the potential moderating effect of banks governance. In study 1, we manipulated solidarity vs. non-solidarity concept (major meaning associated with CSR) by mobilizing 116 respondents. In study 2, we manipulated performance vs. non-performance concept (major meaning associated with CA) by mobilizing 96 respondents. Results reveal that the CSR association is more positive for member-owned banks than for investor-owned banks. Conversely, the CA association is more positive for investor-owned banks than for member-owned banks. These results emphasize the role of governance in building brand equity through its impact on the valence of the brand associations.     

Gender and ethnic diversity on boards and corporate information environment

Prior studies argue that demographic diversity on a firm's board impacts its information environment, yet there is limited empirical evidence regarding the relation between board diversity and corporate opacity. We extend this line of research by examining whether gender and ethnic diversity of directors impacts corporate opacity. Using a Herfindahl Index based on directors' gender and ethnicities to measure board diversity, and an opacity index based on analyst following, analyst forecast error, bid–ask spread, and share turnover to measure corporate opacity, we find that board diversity is negatively associated with corporate opacity. Our results are robust to alternative measures of board diversity and the various tests we employ to address potential endogeneity concerns.     

冗余资源、董事会结构与上市公司业绩波动性的实证关系研

冗余资源对企业的价值评判,不应该只停留在公司的绩效的水平上,对企业的风险控制也同样值得我们去研究。本文以公司业绩波动性为因变量,考察董事会结构、冗余资源对公司业绩波动的影响,拟通过对上市公司的数据进行实证研究,表明:冗余资源存量能够降低企业的业绩波动性;董事会规模、独立性以及CEO权力可以调节冗余资源与业绩波动之间的相关关系。本文从企业风险控制角度探讨了冗余资源对业绩波动的作用,为研究冗余资源的问题提供了新的途径。     

商业银行公司治理结构与经营绩效研究

选取九家银行为研究样本,使用面板数据的时间固定效应模型,本文分析了商业银行的股权结构、董事会特征、监事会特征、高管激励制度、境外战略投资者的引进,对银行盈利能力和风险控制能力的影响,认为我国商业银行的内部治理结构并不能对银行盈利能力造成显著影响,但是却能显著地影响银行的信贷风险控制能力;股权集中度较高、独立董事所占比例较高,高管激励制度较健全、境外战略投资者所持股份比例较高的银行,信贷风险控制能力较强,银行的不良贷款率较低。     

Corporate governance mechanisms and financial performance in China: panel data evidence on listed non financial companies

The objective of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the influence of corporate governance characteristics and corporate ownership concentrations on the financial performance of Chinese companies. This is based on analysis of a panel data set covering the years 2001 to 2005. The characteristics considered are the ratios of independent directors and professional supervisors on the companies' two boards, and the level of concentration in and type of ownership of the companies. Our chosen performance metric is Tobin's Q. We find that ownership concentration in general is a significant factor in determining firm performance. The degree of board independence is significant, but it only appears to have a positive impact on performance in larger companies. The expertise of the supervisory board is not a significant determinant of corporate financial performance in China. Our findings support a continued focus on making improvements to the operation and effectiveness of China's institutions of corporate governance.     

Crisis,internal governance mechanisms and pension fund performance: Evidence from Poland

This study provides new insight on the impact of supervisory board structure as an internal governance mechanism on privately defined contribution pension fund performance in Poland. Using a hand-collected data set, we find evidence that the chairman, as a motivated insider, plays an important role in determining fund performance. The results also show, although with weaker evidence, that outsiders may positively impact fund performance. During the 2007–2008 crisis, however, the insider professional knowledge outweighed the benefits of having motivated outsiders on the supervisory board. Consequently, the results show that both the composition of the supervisory board and the motivation and knowledge of its members are important in explaining pension fund performance. We also find that other governance factors have no impact on fund performance. The results are a relevant contribution to the current regulatory debate on reforms of the pension fund industry in Poland, arguing that modifying the supervisory board structure and electing outsiders with professional knowledge may significantly improve its performance.     

Networks,Firm Size and Innovation

Using survey data on Australian firms this paper investigates the determinants of innovation. Various possible determinants are investigated, including market structure, export status, the use of networks, and training. Regression analysis is conducted separately for manufacturing and non-manufacturing firms and, within each sector, by firm size categories. The results include evidence of persistence in innovative activities and that the use of networks is associated with innovation in some sector-firm size categories. Specifically, small manufacturing firms exhibit a positive association between networking and innovation. In contrast, for non-manufacturing firms this association is present for medium and large sized firms.