The board structure and firm performance in SMEs: Evidence from Spain

The aim is to analyse the efficiency of the board of directors as a corporate governance mechanism. Forthis purpose, we examine the effect of board composition, size, activity, leadership structure and CEOtenure on firm performance. To test our hypothesis we use a sample of 307 Spanish SMEs, none of...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Arosa de la Torre, Blanca, Iturralde Jainaga, Txomin, Maseda García, Amaia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2013
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/74247
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/74247
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:board composition
board size
SME
duality
CEO Tenure
Descripción
Sumario:The aim is to analyse the efficiency of the board of directors as a corporate governance mechanism. Forthis purpose, we examine the effect of board composition, size, activity, leadership structure and CEOtenure on firm performance. To test our hypothesis we use a sample of 307 Spanish SMEs, none of whichis listed. Our main empirical result is the negative impact of the outside directors proportion and boardsize on firm performance. The presence of outside directors can be said not to have resulted in improvedfirm performance. Despite the greater monitoring, advising and networking capacity attributed to outsidedirectors, the firms in the sample showed a significant presence of insider directors, an aspect that may berelated to their greater knowledge of the firm, with a subsequently positive effect on strategic planningdecisions. The negative effect of board size could indicate that the disadvantages of worse coordination,flexibility and communication inside large boards seem to be more important than the benefits of bettermanager control by the board of directors.