Diversity and the Effective Corporate Board

The book discusses the various aspects of diversity of corporate boards in terms of gender, age, nationality, tenure, education, experience and personalities. It enumerates the need for such diversity in each category and related concerns. Statistics from around the world support the authors’ claims. The nine chapters in this short book have not been previously published.

• Explains the dimensions of board diversity and ways to use them to increase effectiveness.
• Supports its findings with statistics from around the world.
• Relevant for researchers and professionals working in corporate governance and corporate finance

Graduate students and researchers working in corporate governance as well as professionals involved in selecting, recruiting, and training board members

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter 1. Diversity—Toward an Effective Board

1.1 Corporate Boards

1.2 Board Diversity—A Must for Effective Board Performance

1.3 Rationale for Board Diversity

1.4 Constraints of Board Diversity

1.5 Types of Diversity

References

Chapter 2. Women on Boards

2.1 Men Still Dominate Boards

2.2 Why So Few Women?

2.3 Why We Need Women on Boards

2.4 Gender Diversity—On the Move

2.5 Women in the Lead

2.6 Bridging the Gap

2.7 Toward a Broader Base

Notes

Abbreviations

References

Chapter 3. Gender Diversity—India and Singapore

3.1 Gender Diversity

3.2 Participation of Women

3.3 Passive Role of Women

3.4 Women Directors Are Younger

3.5 Women Directors Yet to Go Global

3.6 Women: The Newcomers

3.7 Qualification Myth

3.8 Limited Range of Experience

3.9 Women Matter

Chapter 4. As Companies Go Global, Boards Must Follow

4.1 Nationality Diversity

4.2 Level of Global Representation

4.3 Globalization Absent in India and US

4.4 Regional Bias

4.5 Forced Globalization

4.6 International Women Directors

4.7 Skill and Talent Matter to Singapore

4.8 International Directors Are Younger

4.9 Globalization of Boards: In Infancy

4.10 Globalization of Boards Given Thumbs Up

References

Chapter 5. Board Composition: Veteran or Novice

5.1 Diversity of Tenure on the Board

5.2 Optimum Tenure

5.3 US and India Boards Have More Veterans

5.4 Independent Directors Have a Shorter Life Span

5.5 Women—The New Entrants

5.6 Degree of Diversity

5.7 Novice and Veteran

References

Chapter 6. Age Diversity—Toward a Balanced Board

6.1 Why Age Diversity?

6.2 Age Diversity on Boards

6.3 Importance of Age Undermined

References

Chapter 7. Skill Diversity

7.1 Varied Talent

7.2 Pros and Cons

7.3 Finance Background in Demand

7.4 Need for Generalists

7.5 Industry Expert Preferred

7.6 Positive Effect on Performance

References

Chapter 8. Blend of Diverse Personalities

8.1 Deep-Level Diversity

8.2 Leveraging Personality Diversity

References

Chapter 9. Building an Effective Board

9.1 Value-Adding Boards

9.2 Diversity Views

9.3 Building the Right Board

9.4 Making Diversity Work

References