HBS study goes inside the boardroom | Harvard Gazette Online

HBS study goes inside the boardroom Harvard Gazette Online


Harvard University
Harvard Gazette
Thursday, Oct. 01, 2009
HBS study goes inside the boardroom - Examines the role of boards of directors in the recession

Excerpts:

Several months ago, five Harvard Business School (HBS) faculty members arrived at a basic question regarding the current global financial crisis: “What about the role of boards of directors in the recession?”

With close ties to the boardrooms of many of the country’s leading companies, the professors, part of the School’s Corporate Governance Initiative, realized they were uniquely positioned to look behind corporate America’s closed doors for answers.

They did so through a series of anonymous interviews, compiled in the recently released study “Perspectives from the Boardroom — 2009.”

“We were not going to be scientific in the sense that we didn’t do a random study,” said Jay Lorsch, Louis E. Kirstein Professor of Human Relations and the paper’s lead author. “We were looking for people we knew who are on the boards of significant, large, complex companies — people we regard as very competent, serious directors, who we knew would be forthright.”

The report includes comments from board members of 45 companies representing a variety of business sectors. It offers an intimate look into the workings of various boards, as directors candidly revealed what they think makes a board successful, as well as a number of areas where they feel boards fall well short.

Many directors in the study puzzled over the amount of involvement they should have in the day-to-day management of a company.

The report’s interviewees said the clarity of the board’s role; the extent and nature of its involvement in the company’s strategy, management succession, risk oversight, and compliance; and the board’s acquiring of better information and a deeper knowledge of the company are all areas in need of improvement.


Read Full Article: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/hbs-boardroom-report/
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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.