IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/corgov/v15y2007i6p1224-1243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Firm Complexity and Board of Director Composition

Author

Listed:
  • Garen Markarian
  • Antonio Parbonetti

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between firm complexity and board of director composition. Utilising the board typology of Baysinger and Zardkoohi (1986), we classify board members either as insiders, business experts, support specialists, or community influentials, and examine board composition in relation to firm internal and external complexity. Internal complexity refers to the sophistication of internal work processes (proxied by firm R&D expenditures, and the amount of invested capital), while external complexity relates to the external competitive structure (proxied by the number of business and geographic segments, and industrial leadership). Utilising a random sample of 150 firms drawn from six industries over the 2003–2005 time period, and after classifying 4,408 directors to one of our board categories, multivariate results confirm conjectures that complexity is related to the specific capabilities that each board member brings to the firm. We find that externally complex firms substitute community influentials for insiders. Additionally, internally complex firms have lower levels of community influentials, which are substituted by insiders and support specialists. This study adds to a small but growing literature that examines the economic determinants of board structure (Boone et al., 2007; Coles et al., 2005; Gillan et al., 2003; Linck et al., 2005), by providing a unique lens in examining board characteristics that goes beyond the traditional insider/independent classification.

Suggested Citation

  • Garen Markarian & Antonio Parbonetti, 2007. "Firm Complexity and Board of Director Composition," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 1224-1243, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:corgov:v:15:y:2007:i:6:p:1224-1243
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8683.2007.00643.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2007.00643.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2007.00643.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Violina P. Rindova, 1999. "What Corporate Boards have to do with Strategy: A Cognitive Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 953-975, December.
    2. Amy J. Hillman & Albert A. Cannella & Ramona L. Paetzold, 2000. "The Resource Dependence Role of Corporate Directors: Strategic Adaptation of Board Composition in Response to Environmental Change," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 235-256, March.
    3. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    4. Boone, Audra L. & Casares Field, Laura & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Raheja, Charu G., 2007. "The determinants of corporate board size and composition: An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 66-101, July.
    5. Baysinger, Barry D & Zardkoohi, Asghar, 1986. "Technology, Residual Claimants, and Corporate Control," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 339-349, Fall.
    6. Daily, Catherine M. & Dalton, Dan R., 1992. "The relationship between governance structure and corporate performance in entrepreneurial firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 375-386, September.
    7. Baysinger, Barry D & Butler, Henry N, 1985. "Corporate Governance and the Board of Directors: Performance Effects of Changes in Board Composition," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 101-124, Spring.
    8. Bushman, Robert & Chen, Qi & Engel, Ellen & Smith, Abbie, 2004. "Financial accounting information, organizational complexity and corporate governance systems," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 167-201, June.
    9. Melinda Muth & Lex Donaldson, 1998. "Stewardship Theory and Board Structure: a contingency approach," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 5-28, January.
    10. Masoud Yasai-Ardekani & Paul C. Nystrom, 1996. "Designs for Environmental Scanning Systems: Tests of a Contingency Theory," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(2), pages 187-204, February.
    11. Andrew K. Prevost & Ramesh P. Rao & Mahmud Hossain, 2002. "Board Composition in New Zealand: An Agency Perspective," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5‐6), pages 731-760.
    12. Richard L. Daft & Robert H. Lengel, 1986. "Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 554-571, May.
    13. Klein, April, 1998. "Firm Performance and Board Committee Structure," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 275-303, April.
    14. Sascha L. Schmidt & Matthias Brauer, 2006. "Strategic Governance: how to assess board effectiveness in guiding strategy execution," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 13-22, January.
    15. Jay B. Barney, 1986. "Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(10), pages 1231-1241, October.
    16. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    17. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    18. Mike W. Peng, 2004. "Outside directors and firm performance during institutional transitions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 453-471, May.
    19. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    20. Maug, Ernst, 1997. "Boards of directors and capital structure: Alternative forms of corporate restructuring," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 113-139, April.
    21. Rosenstein, Stuart & Wyatt, Jeffrey G., 1990. "Outside directors, board independence, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 175-191, August.
    22. Bruce Kogut, 2000. "The network as knowledge: generative rules and the emergence of structure," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 405-425, March.
    23. Mihnea C. Moldoveanu & Robert M. Bauer, 2004. "On the Relationship Between Organizational Complexity and Organizational Structuration," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 98-118, February.
    24. Astrid A. Dick, 2003. "Nationwide branching and its impact on market structure, quality and bank performance," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2003-35, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    25. John F. Mahon & Edwin A. Murray, 1981. "Strategic planning for regulated companies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 251-262, July.
    26. Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Walkling, Ralph A., 1996. "Corporate governance and shareholder initiatives: Empirical evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 365-395, November.
    27. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2003. "Boards of directors as an endogenously determined institution: a survey of the economic literature," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 9(Apr), pages 7-26.
    28. Becht, Marco & Roell, Ailsa, 1999. "Blockholdings in Europe:: An international comparison1," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4-6), pages 1049-1056, April.
    29. Marco Becht & Ailsa Roell, 1999. "Blockholdings in Europe: an international comparison," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/13316, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    30. Daniel E. Nolle, 1994. "Banking Industry Consolidation: Changes and Implications for the Future," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_111, Levy Economics Institute.
    31. Lance B. Kurke & Howard E. Aldrich, 1983. "Note---Mintzberg was Right!: A Replication and Extension of The Nature of Managerial Work," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(8), pages 975-984, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lu, Yun & Ntim, Collins G. & Zhang, Qingjing & Li, Pingli, 2022. "Board of directors’ attributes and corporate outcomes: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Chkir, Imed & Dutta, Shantanu & El Haj Hassan, Boushra, 2020. "Does target geographical complexity impact acquisition performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    3. Fan, Yaoyao & Boateng, Agyenim & King, Timothy & MacRae, Claire, 2019. "Board-CEO friendship ties and firm value: Evidence from US firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Chien Mu Yeh, 2020. "The influence of foreign institutional investors, institutional directors, and the share pledge ratio of directors on financial performance of tourism firms," Tourism Economics, , vol. 26(1), pages 179-201, February.
    5. Nguyen, Quang Khai, 2022. "Determinants of bank risk governance structure: A cross-country analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    6. Habiba Al‐Shaer & Mahbub Zaman, 2018. "Credibility of sustainability reports: The contribution of audit committees," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 973-986, November.
    7. Wang, Teng-Shih & Lin, Yi-Mien & Werner, Edward M. & Chang, Hsihui, 2018. "The relationship between external financing activities and earnings management: Evidence from enterprise risk management," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 312-329.
    8. Singla, Chitra, 2016. "Factors Determining the Roles Board Members Play in Firms," IIMA Working Papers WP2016-03-56, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    9. Christian Jung-Gehling & Erik Strauss, 2018. "A Contemporary Concept of Organizational Control: Its Dependence on Shared Values and Impact on Motivation," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 70(4), pages 341-374, November.
    10. Giovanna Michelon & Antonio Parbonetti, 2012. "The effect of corporate governance on sustainability disclosure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(3), pages 477-509, August.
    11. Kshitij Awasthi & Rejie George, 2021. "Influence Capital in Boards: a study of ex-bureaucrats in India," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 1525-1559, December.
    12. Hammad Hassan Mirza & Sumaira Andleeb & Farzana Ramzan, 2012. "Gender Diversity and Firm Performance: Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 3(5), pages 161-166.
    13. Cardinaels, Eddy, 2009. "Governance in non-for-profit hospitals: Effects of board members' remuneration and expertise on CEO compensation," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 64-75, November.
    14. Cyrus Aghamolla & Tadashi Hashimoto, 2021. "Aggressive Boards and CEO Turnover," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 437-486, May.
    15. Sattar, Mahnoor & Biswas, Pallab Kumar & Roberts, Helen, 2022. "Board gender diversity and firm risk in UK private firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    16. Nurshahirah Abd Majid & Amar Hisham Jaaffar, 2023. "The Effect of Women’s Leadership on Carbon Disclosure by the Top 100 Global Energy Leaders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-26, May.
    17. Michelon, Giovanna, 2021. "Accounting research boundaries, multiple centers and academic empathy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Chitra Singla, 2016. "Factors Determining the Roles Board Members Play in Firms," Working Papers id:10986, eSocialSciences.
    19. Stefan Schmid & Felix Roedder, 2022. "Much ado about diversity? The perpetuation of old elites on corporate boards," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3263-3285, December.
    20. Tsung-Kang Chen & Hsien-Hsing Liao & Wen-Hsuan Chen, 2017. "CEO ability heterogeneity, board’s recruiting ability and credit risk," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 1005-1039, November.
    21. Tasawar Nawaz, 2019. "Exploring the Nexus Between Human Capital, Corporate Governance and Performance: Evidence from Islamic Banks," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 567-587, June.
    22. Andrea Melis, 2011. "Martin Hilb: New corporate governance," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 15(3), pages 509-514, August.
    23. Luminita Enache & Antonio Parbonetti & Anup Srivastava, 2020. "Are all outside directors created equal with respect to firm disclosure policy?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 541-577, August.
    24. Matteo Cotugno & Antonio D'Amato & Angela Gallo & Valeria Stefanelli, 2021. "Do supervisory enforcement actions affect board composition?," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 22-44, January.
    25. Francesco PAOLONE, 2014. "Cost Structure Complexity And Stock Prices Volatility: An Analysis Of Possible Relationship Among Italian Listed Companies In The Period Of Crisis," Romanian Journal of Economics, Institute of National Economy, vol. 38(1(47)), pages 107-133, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, December.
    2. Chaur-Shiuh Young & Liu-Ching Tsai & Pei-Gin Hsieh, 2008. "Voluntary Appointment of Independent Directors in Taiwan: Motives and Consequences," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(9-10), pages 1103-1137.
    3. Volonté, Christophe, 2015. "Boards: Independent and committed directors?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 25-37.
    4. Ashbaugh-Skaife, Hollis & Collins, Daniel W. & LaFond, Ryan, 2006. "The effects of corporate governance on firms' credit ratings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 203-243, October.
    5. Chaur‐Shiuh Young & Liu‐Ching Tsai & Pei‐Gin Hsieh, 2008. "Voluntary Appointment of Independent Directors in Taiwan: Motives and Consequences," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(9‐10), pages 1103-1137, November.
    6. Aziz Jaafar & Lynn Hodgkinson & Mao-Feng Kao, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Board of Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from Taiwan," Working Papers 19011, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    7. Aiyesha Dey, 2008. "Corporate Governance and Agency Conflicts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1143-1181, December.
    8. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    9. Panagiotis Staikouras & Christos Staikouras & Maria-Eleni Agoraki, 2007. "The effect of board size and composition on European bank performance," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-27, February.
    10. Saha Rupjyoti & Kabra Kailash Chandra, 2019. "Does corporate governance influence firm performance? Evidence from India," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 5(4), pages 70-89, December.
    11. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    12. Attiya Y. Javid & Robina Iqbal, 2010. "Corporate Governance in Pakistan : Corporate Valuation, Ownership and Financing," Governance Working Papers 22830, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    13. Masulis, Ronald W. & Wang, Cong & Xie, Fei, 2012. "Globalizing the boardroom—The effects of foreign directors on corporate governance and firm performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 527-554.
    14. M. Andrew Fields & Phyllis Y. Keys, 2003. "The Emergence of Corporate Governance from Wall St. to Main St.: Outside Directors, Board Diversity, Earnings Management, and Managerial Incentives to Bear Risk," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 1-24, February.
    15. Afzalur Rashid, 2015. "Revisiting Agency Theory: Evidence of Board Independence and Agency Cost from Bangladesh," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 181-198, August.
    16. Attiya Y. Javed & Robina Iqbal, 2007. "The Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value: A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange," PIDE-Working Papers 2007:14, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    17. Ahsan Habib & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Mostafa Monzur Hasan, 2018. "Firm life cycle and advisory directors," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 43(4), pages 575-592, November.
    18. Georgeta Vintila & Stefan Cristian Gherghina, 2013. "Board of Directors Independence and Firm Value: Empirical Evidence Based on the Bucharest Stock Exchange Listed Companies," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 3(4), pages 885-900.
    19. Shkendije Himaj, 2014. "Corporate Governance in Banks and its Impact on Risk and Performance: Review of Literature on the Selected Governance Mechanisms," Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, Central bank of Montenegro, vol. 3(3), pages 53-85.
    20. Akshita Arora & Chandan Sharma, 2015. "Impact of Firm Performance on Board Characteristics: Empirical Evidence from India," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 4(1), pages 53-70, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:corgov:v:15:y:2007:i:6:p:1224-1243. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0964-8410&site=1 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.