Corporate Governance, Board of Directors, and the Firm: A Maturing Field

Corporate governance scholars are intensely interested in the relation of corporate governance (CG) and firm performance, broadly defined. The role and effectiveness of the board of directors (or “boards”) continue to be at the center of CG research and inquiry because, in most countries, boards serve as the representatives of shareholders and have the fiduciary responsibility to monitor management and improve performance (Van Den Berghe & Levrau, 2004; Kumar & Sivaramakrishnan, 2008). Of course, the performance of boards has attracted special scrutiny in recent years following a wave of corporate scandals that raised serious doubts on their effectiveness. Indeed, board composition and structure remain at the center of policy debates as different countries attempt to develop legal and institutional frameworks to improve board performance and diversity.