Board of Directors Leadership and Structure: Control and Performance Implications

Abstract

Research examining the association of corporate governance structures and firm performance has relied almost exclusively on the large-scale firm. This may, however, be a limited forum for questions of this sort. Officers and boards of directors for the large-scale firm may lack the discretion—or the wherewithal—to effect changes In policy or outcomes. It Is In the smaller firm that such performance/governance linkages may be more easily observed. This study, then, focuses on a number of corporate governance structures and their relationships to firm performance for the smaller corporation. Ironically, the very organizations that the literature suggests might benefit most from independent governance structures are those that rely on them least.