Summary: | 碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 企業管理研究所 === 97 === Corporate board is an important mechanism in corporate governance, yet there is relatively little research discussing about the determinants of board size and board independence. Our research premises that considering the benefits and costs of board functions, board size and independence are efficient response to corporate characteristics and operating environment. We use 13-year Taiwanese company data to analyze the determinants of board size and independence among core enterprises and subsidiary companies in business groups.
The result shows that firms with more complex operations, lower growth opportunities, and greater chances to extract private benefits, tend to have larger board size. But firms with larger size have less independent directors. As the effects of the law, the older firms, the less independent directors. Besides, board independence doesn’t reflect a tradeoff between board benefits and costs. Instead, firms with higher growth opportunities have more independent boards.
We also find that if family members have more shareholdings in core enterprises, they tend to hire less independent boards, which means core enterprises may have worse board monitoring. Besides, the proportion of independent directors is the lowest among subsidiary companies, which shows that the board in subsidiary companies is easier to be influenced or controlled by core enterprises or other members in business groups.
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