Sky Blog
A ground-breaking study provides new data about diversity on the boards of directors of 3,031 companies (representing 2,503 U.S. and 528 foreign firms) listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The demographic information in the study is based on voluntary self-identification …
Over the last two decades, firms have been under growing pressure from investors, business leaders, and activists to increase female and minority representation on boards of directors. First adopted by Norway in 2003, regulations relating to boardroom gender diversity have …
As public interest and scrutiny into environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues continue to rise, companies face an ever-evolving landscape relating to their ESG disclosures. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed rules that could require increased ESG disclosures. …
In a new book, I argue that the conversation about diversity in corporations (legal rules, policy discussions, academic writing, and media narratives) is missing some vital pieces. This means that we are making rules without understanding the full picture …
On March 7, 2017, the eve of International Women’s Day, State Street Global Advisors initiated its “Fearless Girl” campaign, an effort to increase the number of female directors on the boards of its portfolio companies.[1]According to State Street, …
The rationale behind a number of recent EU legislation changes focusing on corporate governance has been to prioritise a long-term focus on governance through various transparency measures as well as some concrete requirements for action, and on allowing shareholders and …
There has been a lot of talk about how to increase racial and ethnic diversity on U.S. corporate boards as well as many initiatives to help nominating committees identify candidates from under-represented groups. To assess the current situation, ISS Corporate …
In a new paper, we investigate the relationships between institutional ownership, board diversity, and corporate innovation in U.S.-listed firms. Institutional investors play a crucial role in a firm’s operation and exert considerable influence on the efficient monitoring of innovative investment. …
A vital yet surprisingly overlooked aspect of corporate sustainability is asset redeployability. Redeployable assets are those that can be used in several ways. Assets with high redeployability promote sustainability because they can be re-assigned for various purposes as circumstances change, …
While the world recovers from the worst of the pandemic, the economic, political and social repercussions will continue to play out in ways that, while unpredictable, are in some respects characterized by observable patterns of cause-and-effect and cyclicality. The pendulum …
Women have traditionally suffered from discrimination in the labor market (Tatli et al., 2013) and are under-represented in upper management (Thams, Bendell and Terjesen, 2018). To address this widespread gender imbalance, many countries have implemented gender diversity policies ranging from …
The economic benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and workplace gender diversity are areas of growing interest for business leaders and regulators. Research shows that socially responsible activities enhance firm value while irresponsible social activities destroy value and that firms …
Awareness of the cultural dimension of diversity in corporate boards has been on the rise. Directors’ cultural values can affect how effective corporate boards are in advising and monitoring managers and, ultimately, how well a firm performs. At the same …
The recent pushback by conservative legal groups against equality and diversity on corporate boards has accelerated to new levels in the past few months. The latest example is a challenge to Nasdaq’s board diversity rule, which was approved in August …
The California Secretary of State has appealed a decision by the Los Angeles County Superior Court striking down the second of California’s two board diversity laws, which required all publicly traded companies headquartered in California to include a minimum number …
As a social-policy instrument, forced board-gender balancing is in principle unrelated to firms’ economic performance. Nonetheless, imposing such a policy may have unintended consequences (positive or negative) for firm value, which is important for all of a firm’s constituencies – …
Nasdaq’s Board Diversity Rule, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2021, is the subject of an ongoing, high stakes court battle in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The attorneys general of …
The past decade has seen an explosion of boardroom gender diversity reforms worldwide. As of 2014, 23 countries have amended governance codes and 14 countries have enacted laws to increase gender diversity on corporate boards. While investors play a critical …