Board Involvement In The Strategic Decision Making Process

The board of directors is legally responsible for setting the strategic direction of the firm and for ensuring the firm's long-term performance in almost all governance environments. However, many boards delegate the task of creating and executing the firm's strategy to a group of full-time professional managers. This separation between ownership and control creates many challenges for the modern-day firm, and the board's role in the strategy formation process is arguably the seminal governance challenge confronting boards today. Board Involvement in the Strategic Decision Making Process: A Comprehensive Review examines this seminal challenge.

Understanding Boards of Directors examines why research on corporate governance has been slow and uneven, and where that research should turn next to be most valuable to practitioners. The author traces the history of research on corporate boards and analyzes the trends in that research, including the relative value of the types of data that researchers in this field have used, and ultimately identifying the best path forward in studying these complex social systems.

Boards of directors are coming under increasing scrutiny in terms of their contribution in monitoring and controlling management, particularly in the wake of high-profile corporate frauds and failures, and also their potential to add value to organizational performance through involvement in the strategy process and through building relationships with key investors. Despite the importance of these issues, not only to organizations but also arguably to national competitiveness, the nature of board activity remains largely a black box, clouded by prescriptions, prejudices, and half-truths. This book responds to calls for greater scrutiny of boards of directors with an in-depth examination of directors of UK organizations, drawing on the accounts of directors themselves as to their roles, influence, and the potential and limits to their power. Much work on boards of directors has labelled the board as a rubber stamp for dominant management, and non-executive directors in particular have been variously described as poodles, pet rocks, or parsley on the fish. Such accounts are rooted in assumptions of board activity that are essentially adversarial in nature, and that the solution to the 'problem' of reconciling the interests of managers with those of shareholders is to increase the checks and balances available to the board of directors. The findings of this study show that boards, in many cases, are far more than passive rubber stamps for management and that non-executives are encouraged to act as trusted advisers to the executives and the chief executive, rather than solely monitors of executive activity. Boards are important mechanisms in maintaining the strategic framework of the organization through setting the boundaries of organizational activity. The potential of the board members, in particular the non-executives, to fulfil such a mandate depends on a number of factors, including ability, willingness to engage with the organizational issues, and the degree of knowledge they have relevant to the host firm. Above all, the degree of trust built between members of the board, and between the board and key external constituencies, is at the heart of effective board behaviour.

Based on studies carried out at the Bradford Management Centre in Britain, 1970-1984.

This Element is an attempt to contribute to the extant literature on boards and corporate governance by exploring in detail the active involvement of the board in the purpose and strategy of the corporation in order to cope with a complex and uncertain environment.

An examination of the true role of governance as a driver of high-quality strategic decision-making, which can help an organization achieve its strategic objectives more efficiently and effectively. Many boards approach the subject of governance from a compliance perspective, which leaves value lying on the table. When boards complain that “we're spending too much time on governance”, what they're usually referring to is 'compliance'. A compliance focus leads to an emphasis on governance as an area of subject-matter expertise, a cost, an overhead, a back-office activity, something which 'has to be done' to satisfy regulation and Code. It manifests itself through a culture of box-ticking. Directors and senior management perceive, and derive, little value from the exercise. Seamus Gillen believes that governance is a commercial discipline, providing a fundamental underpin to the process of value creation, value protection and value preservation. Governance drives the quality of strategic decision-making that helps an organization achieve its strategic objectives more efficiently and effectively. High standards of governance create competitive advantage, a concept as applicable to not-for-profits and public sector bodies as to commercial entities. For organizations pursuing this approach, governance becomes a liberating theology, and a critical business enabler. Building Better Boards resonates with professionals operating across international jurisdictions, and is inclusive rather than exclusive. The book emphasises, and demonstrates, that governance is a live issue, an ongoing priority area of board focus, with developments occurring around the world on, literally, a daily basis. It identifies good practice and progressive thinking across sectors and geographies. It builds on thought leadership and case studies, as well as regulatory guidance and Code principles. It offers new models and approaches based on real-life experience. All to provide boards and directors - as well as senior executives - with the means to leverage governance to achieve their strategic objectives. To help them lead and succeed in a changing world.

This book integrates and assesses the vast and rapidly growing literature on strategic leadership, which is the study of top executives and their effects on organizations. The basic premise is that in order to understand why organizations do the things they do, or perform the way they do, we need to deeply comprehend the people at the top-- their experiences, abilities, values, social connections, aspirations, and other human features. The actions--or inactions--of a relatively small number of key people at the apex of an organization can dramatically affect organizational outcomes. The scope of strategic leadership includes individual executives, especially chief executive officers (CEOs), groups of executives (top management teams, or TMTs); and governing bodies (particularly boards of directors). Accordingly, the book addresses an array of topics regarding CEOs (e.g., values, personality, motives, demography, succession, and compensation); TMTs (including composition, processes, and dynamics); and boards of directors (why boards look and behave the way they do, and the consequences of board profiles and behaviors). Strategic Leadership synthesizes what is known about strategic leadership and indicates new research directions. The book is meant primarily for scholars who strive to assess and understand the phenomena of strategic leadership. It offers a considerable foundation on which professionals involved in executive search, compensation, appraisal and staffing, as well as board members who evaluate executive performance and potential, might build their tools and perspectives.

The majority of SMEs are operating in a networked business environment, and these networks extend beyond national and cultural boundaries. Within these networks, growth takes various routes and forms. Instead of linear, positive growth, international growth is often more cyclical, including periods of stagnation and withdrawal, even exits. International Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises focuses on international growth, such as how companies expand their operations across national borders through opportunity exploration and exploitation, and identification and development of innovations, i.e. on international entrepreneurship. The book provides a comprehensive overview of international growth of small and medium-sized enterprises from diverse points of view. It verifies that SMEs in all parts of the globe share similar characteristics, but also differ significantly. New explanations emerge, such as ownership, steering of the company, or the negative consequences of international growth. It discusses how the changing external environment of SMEs pushes them to create innovative solutions in order to survive and succeed. This collection of new and international perspectives sheds much-needed light on how founders and management teams of SMEs can succeed in fostering the growth process, and what specific characteristics are instrumental in initiating and maintaining international growth.