I was fascinated to see the ‘Evershed’s board report’ which analysed the performance of around 250 top companies over a 3 year period. Following on from the Davies review, it was hardly surprising that FT.com headlined this as ‘Women at the top lift shares, study shows’.
It’s great that this report helps to build up the evidence base. But if I’m being picky, this came 3rd in the list of influences! The first two were other governance related issues – first up being board size – a smaller board was more effective, with 11 being the optimum. The second was having shareholders with substantial holdings, which has key relevance for emerging themes on stewardship. Then came the number of women directors – those with them performed better through the financial crisis, particularly in the UK and in the banking sector.
Clues to the struggle ahead
The sting in the tail? Despite all that, interviews showed that only 55% of Directors thought that diversity was beneficial for board and company performance; and only half of those supported positive action to support it.
So, clues to the struggle ahead for the 25% target then, I think.
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