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A board of directors typically includes a mix of financial experts...
and experts whose main knowledge is of the sector.
The status and influence of the two groups differs greatly.
In practice, the financial experts run the show.
This study shows a core element of our research group.
We collect data on what's going on in boards.
We use a web tool, or Board Research Report.
This is a list of questions that board members need to fill in.
The questions are about all the other members of the board.
This gives us a wealth of data on what's going on in boards.
At the same time, these boards get a Benchmark Report.
This report allows them to gain insight in how they perform...
compared to other boards in the same industry.
It's definitely a win-win. They get the report, we get the data.
Boards are the main decision-making groups within organizations.
Lack of effective boards is one of the causes...
of the big corporate crises and scandals of the last two decades.
Such as Enron, Ahold, the financial sector...
Tesco and Toshiba.
Research on board effectiveness is really important.
It helps us better understand financial crises and scandals in corporations.
And it also helps us to prevent these scandals in the future.
The research group is very multidisciplinary.
We have psychologists, sociologists, economists, accounting people...
and people doing management studies.
This is very important, because then you can look at board effectiveness...
from different angles and from different research studies.