Top management gender diversity and performance: in search of threshold effects

Author(s):  
Yundan Gong ◽  
Sourafel Girma

Abstract The impact of gender diversity on business performance has been featured prominently on the agenda of many politicians and business leaders in recent years. However, empirical results of the impact of gender diversity on firm performance have been ambiguous. This paper contributes to the literature by using propensity score-based estimation techniques on a large sample of UK firms to analyse the performance effect of appointing a first female board director. We look at financial and non-financial performance indicators and document significant effects on firm growth and labour cost efficiency, but rather fragile ones on accounting returns, such as profitability. We also document evidence of another threshold effect; namely, gender diversity appears to have its highest impact (its ‘ceiling’) when the proportion of female directors is approximately 30%. Carrying out a sensitivity analysis, we conclude that hidden bias must be implausibly high to be able to attribute the beneficial effects of boardroom gender diversity to unmeasured confounding.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Fernández-Temprano ◽  
Fernando Tejerina-Gaite

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of board diversity on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach From different theories perspective and based on data collected about the composition of board of directors in Spanish non-financial firms, the paper determines statistically the relationship between board diversity and performance for the period 2005-2015. Findings The results reveal differences between inside and outside board members in terms of the performance impact of board diversity. Thus, while age diversity has a positive effect on firm performance in both, insider and outsider directors, nationality mix is associated with higher performance levels just in the case of insiders. In addition, educational diversity seems to have a negative effect on performance for supervisory directors. On the contrary, the authors do not find any evidence about a possible influence of gender diversity on performance. Research limitations/implications The authors are just taking some board’s attributes, but the concept of board diversity is a very wide one. In this regard, less traditional methodologies that do not rely on extant archival databases may be necessary to get a deeper understanding of the impact of boards on firm’s performance. Practical implications This study demonstrates that the claim of “one size fits all” often implicitly stated by regulators and advisors is misleading. Board’s attributes analysis over the boardroom as a whole turns out in too simplistic conclusions. This is particularly important for regulators: a rigorous analysis should be performed before including general recommendations about, for instance, the age or the board tenure in corporate governance codes. Social implications As diverse boards contribute to a greater social value, the paper analyses the performance consequences of demographic diversity. Originality/value The paper analyses the firm performance impact of diversity among insider directors, on the one hand, and outsider directors, on the other. Although there is a clear difference between the roles assigned to insider and outsider directors, to the authors’ knowledge, there has been no analysis of the firm performance effect of the diversity of each type of director using the same sample and methodology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 190-194
Author(s):  
BALUSAMY S ◽  
VENKATASUBRAMANIAM A ◽  
GIRI N

Until the late 1990’s the only form of media known to businesses were television, newspapers and radio, however in the early 2000s, a revolution in media was witnessed and the world was introduced to Social Media. Social Media is a just like any other Form of media is a tool used for communication but at the larger scale for social interaction using highly accessible and scalable Communication techniques. Social media has a positive impact and a positive influence on the company as well as the customers. Social media is becoming an essential tool for marketers, which is at a very minimum investment. In today’s’ scenario consumers judge a company based on their online presence, hence companies can innovate and simultaneously create a strong social presence by always catering to their customers’ needs and concerns.Internationally, companies have adopted Social Media as an essential tool for their marketing campaign; however the same is not adapted in India to a large extent. What are the benefits of Social media? What are the examples of Social media? This study understands the benefits,impact and importance of Social Media on business performance and growth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-142
Author(s):  
Kim Foong Jee ◽  
Jia En Joanne Ngui ◽  
Pei Pei Jessica Poh ◽  
Wai Loon Chan ◽  
Yet Siang Wong

This paper examines the relationship between capital structure and performance of firms. The study is confined to plantation sector companies in Malaysia and is based on a sample of 39 firms which listed in Bursa Malaysia for the period from 2009 to 2019. This study uses two performance measures which are ROA and ROE as the dependent variable. Besides, the capital structure measures are the short-term debt, long-term debt, total debt and firm growth, which as the independent variables. Size will be the control variable in this study. Moreover, a fixed-effect panel regression analysis has been used to analyse the impact of capital structure on firm performance. The results indicate that firm performance, which is in term of ROA, have an insignificant relationship with short-term debt (STD) and long-term debt (LTD). For the total debt (TD) and growth, there is a significant relationship with ROA. However, for the performance measured by ROE, it has an insignificant relationship with short-term debt (STD), long-term debt (LTD) and total debt (TD). Furthermore, there is a significant relationship between the growth and the performance firms from plantation sector in Malaysia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-69
Author(s):  
Augustine Castro Singine ◽  
Mustafa Cahid Ungan

In an environment with ever changing customers’ needs and intensifying global competition, quality processes and supply chain (SC) are critical for organisational success. To satisfy customers, outsmart competition and improve performance, contemporary organisations are trying to improve on their processes through integrated supply chains. In an attempt to address this question and effectively contribute to this topic, a comparative meta- analytical evaluation along with key moderator and mediator analysis was conducted. In the lens of many theories, SCI from two perspectives; SCID (internal, suppliers, customer integration) with 67 studies and SCIF (information, operational, relational integration) with 25 studies was assessed on overall performance as well as on both operational and business performance. A quantitative meta-analysis based on Hunter and Schmidt (2004) which was performed through Jamovi, revealed the following: The meta-analysis results which were obtained through Jamovi provided significant correlation coefficients for SCID and SCIF respectively (ř = .476, p <.002) and (ř =.508, p <.001). Therefore, indicating that the association between SCID and performance is medium and positive, while that of SCIF and performance is positive and large. This is a clear indication that SCI from the perspective of SCID and SCIF yields different results, with SCIF having a relatively large effect. Moreover, on average SCIF both at aggregate and individual level has a slightly large effect on performance than SCID. Operational performance was the most influenced by SCID and SCIF, although operational and relational integration indicated a significant larger effect on business performance. Thus, individual SCID and SCIF constructs have different effects on business and operational as overall performance. All moderators though with different levels of interactions indicated a significant effect on both SCID and SCIF. Of the three mediators tested, customer integration had a 32% negative effect, SC agility showed an 89.1% full mediation effect with flexibility indicating a 53% significant effect.


Author(s):  
Mohsen Shafiei Nikabadi ◽  
Laya Olfat ◽  
Ahmad Jafarian ◽  
Hassan Alibabaei Khamene

The main goal of this article is to survey effects of necessary factors for deploying e-business models on business performance in automotive industry. Today, application of information technology and internet in business is turned to a critical tool to gain competitive advantages in business. The impact of e-businesses is so that changed competitive approach between companies from traditional to modern models. In this study, first, necessary key factors of implementing e-business in automotive industry are identified. Then different aspects of performance evaluation in automotive industry are recognized. After identifying the different aspects of e-business and business performance, effect of necessary aspects for implementing e-business on business performance are studied. Recognition of different aspects in the field of study is based on confirmatory factor analysis and then type of each determined aspects with business performance is surveyed using correlation analysis. Findings of this study shows positive relationship between necessary aspects of implementing e-business on both aspects of operational and general indexes of business performance evaluation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (10) ◽  
pp. 1266-1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Hill ◽  
Richard Cuthbertson ◽  
Benjamin Laker ◽  
Steve Brown

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present 13 propositions about how internal strategic fit (often referred to as fit) impacts the business performance of low cost and differentiated services. It then uses these relationships to develop two “fitness ladder” frameworks to help practitioners understand how to improve fit given their business strategy (low cost or differentiation) and performance objectives (operational, financial or competitiveness). Design/methodology/approach In total, 11 strategic business units were studied that perform differently and provide a range of low cost and differentiated services to understand how changes in internal strategic fit impacted business performance over a 7 year period. Findings The findings suggest aligning systems with market needs does not improve performance. Instead, firms serving low cost markets should first focus managers’ attention on processes and centralise resources around key processes, before reducing process flexibility and automate as many steps as possible to develop a low cost capability that is difficult to imitate. By contrast, firms serving differentiated markets should first focus managers’ attention on customers and then locate resources near them, before increasing customer contact with their processes and making them more flexible so they can develop customer knowledge, relationships and services that are difficult to imitate. Research limitations/implications Some significant factors may not have been considered as the study only looked at the impact of 14 internal strategic fit variables on 7 performance variables. Also, the performance changes may not be a direct result of the strategic fit improvements identified and may not generalise to other service organisations, settings and environments. Practical implications The strategic fit-performance relationships identified and the “fitness ladder” frameworks developed can be used by organisations to make decisions about how best to improve fit given their different market needs, business strategies and performance objectives. Originality/value The findings offer more clarity than previous research about how internal fit impacts business performance for low cost and differentiated services.


2001 ◽  
Vol 09 (04) ◽  
pp. 407-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN E. BUTLER ◽  
PHILLIP H. PHAN ◽  
BORJE O. SAXBERG ◽  
SOON HOON LEE

This research examines business succession in small firms by presenting and testing a succession outcome decision model that is affected by the impact of family, performance, and strategy. Succession has been seen as an important issue in firms of all sizes, but the issue can be a much more personal one for entrepreneurs. Data were collected from a sample of 294 entrepreneurs using a questionnaire. These entrepreneurs were asked about the likelihood of various succession options, strategy, performance, and issues related to their family. Results indicated that in firms where family members were seen as making a positive impact to the firm's performance, entrepreneurs were more likely to see family member succession as the likely outcome. Historical performance did not have much impact on succession decisions, although expectations of poor future performance made family succession a less likely envisioned outcome.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 962-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adwin Surja Atmadja ◽  
Jen-Je Su ◽  
Parmendra Sharma

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of microfinance on women-owned microenterprises’ (WMEs) performance in Indonesia. It especially observes how financial, human and social capital influences performance of enterprises. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a survey conducted in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, covering more than 100 WMEs. The ordered probit technique is applied to estimate the performance vis-à-vis financial, social and human capital relationships. Findings This study finds a negative relationship between performance and financial capital, and positive relationships between performance-human capital and performance-social capital. However, with respect to human capital, the level of education has a marginally significant relationship with performance. Practical implications Microcredit for the purposes of enhancing business performance might not necessarily be a good idea, if it is unable to generate higher returns. As a business develops, the volume of microcredit should be reduced, and replaced by owners’ own savings and retained profits. Regarding the non-financial factors, it might be useful for policy makers to contemplate providing incentives for spouse involvement in microenterprises run by women, and to consider them in designing credit policies. Group meetings activities should be extended to facilitate members to engage in business-related conversations and to develop social relationships. The ability of loan officers and group leaders to facilitate such conversations appears important. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides the first in-depth understanding of the role of microfinance programmes in the case of performance of WMEs in Indonesia, one of the world’s most populous economies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-61
Author(s):  
Ivana Rašić Bakarić

Abstract This paper investigates the link between cluster membership and performance of clustered companies. The object of the study is the Croatian Wood Cluster (CWC). The paper presents the results of a survey of 34 members of the Croatian Wood Cluster operating in wood and furniture industries. The survey was conducted in order to identify and analyse perceptions and attitudes of CWC members towards CWC objectives, activities and performance; the cooperation strength among cluster members and that with the players outside the cluster; the effects of clustering on the operational performance of the clustered SMEs; business and economic setting in Croatia, barriers for the work of the CWC and the relevancy of government policy measures. The empirical results indicate that the economic performance of the clustered companies is significantly predicted by the cooperation with public institutions, financial institutions and professional associations (such as the Agency for Investments and Competitiveness) provided by the CWC and by the access to cluster resources such as horizontal cooperation, fairs, exhibitions etc. Additionally, an access to credit, customers and competitors shows a significant positive effect on finance-based performance of the clustered companies. On the other hand, cooperation among cluster members and cooperation with scientific, high education and research institutions show no significant relationship with the company performance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhannad Akram Ahmad ◽  
Seif Obeid Alshbiel

This study highlights the gender diversity issues in the banking sector taking into consideration their impact on the performance measured by profitability (ROA). As the banking sector has widely been ignored from the previous studies due to their strict system, this study empirically examined the impact of the CEO gender and board with a female director on the performance of the Jordanian commercial banks in a period from 2004 to 2013. The multiple regression analysis shows that the banks with female CEOs underperform their counterparts run by male CEOs. The reason could be due to their harmonious relationships orientation; that is, women do not tend to invest in risky investments. However, female director plays insignificant roles on the performance which supports the evidence of tokenism as argued by the psychological social theory.


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