Maria Aluchna

Guler Aras

Female presence and involvement on boards improves firm performance, transforms corporate governance and leads to the transition towards more responsible business. Corporate boards are essential bodies for governance and management and their efficiency determines a company's performance. The board is a crucial element of the corporate governance structure and its efficiency and performance determines the success of the operation and monitoring of the company. The board is viewed as the liaison between providers of capital (shareholders) and managers who use this capital to create value. The board role is to represent, formulate and fulfill the interests and expectations of shareholders as the owners of the companies. The discussion surrounding female participation in business inevitably needs to refer to their presence on corporate boards. It is also a reliable indicator of a gender equality policy and advancement, adopted by countries and companies. The book traces the logic behind the decision patterns of female involvement in governance and management. In particular, it identifies the patterns of women's presence on corporate boards, with respect to theoretical and conceptual argumentation, policy and regulatory implication, as well as practical adaptation. The phenomenon of women on corporate boards is analyzed in the context of different political, cultural and institutional environments addressing challenges in both developed and emerging economies. The role of female directors is viewed as one of the crucial aspects in corporate governance, adding to the quality of control and management.

An International Perspective

Women on Corporate Boards

Samuel O. Idowu

This book discusses the tasks and functions of corporate governance in the light of current challenges and the dynamics that arise from a broader approach to company management and the integration of corporate governance with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability. Addressing the corporate governance shortcomings that are believed to have contributed to the recent financial crisis, it explores the interplay between corporate governance and CSR, and includes examples of company practice to show how such changes affect the practices of shareholders, boards of directors and regulators. In particular, the book examines shareholders’ activities, their different investment strategies, specific reporting expectations and the submission of proposals to the annual meeting. Further, for boards of directors it explores the need to revise their tasks with respect to the criteria for executive appointments, their corporate strategy, performance measures and diversity recommendations, while for directors it provides recommendations to reconsider the structure of executive pay and performance incentives. Lastly, for regulators the book investigates the need to introduce new laws addressing, for instance, the need for integrated reporting, limiting the voice of short term oriented shareholders and providing guidelines for executive compensation.

Maria Aluchna

Books

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