Abstract
The objective of this paper is to analyse whether the knowledge, experience and capabilities of the board of directors aid the expansion of growth-oriented SMES. The sample consists of 200 board members of 32 firms listed on Spain’s alternative investment market. Our results show that average board tenure, educational level and CEO experience all affect firm growth. This article highlights the particular importance of human capital for these firms and how it can improve their performance.
Keywords
- Small And Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
- Alternative Investment Market
- Firm Growth
- Board Tenure
- Board Members
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adobor, H.: Selecting management talent for joint ventures: a suggested framework. Hum. Resour. Manag. Rev. 14(2), 161–178 (2004)
Barney, J.: Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. J. Manag. 17, 99–120 (1991)
Barroso, C., Villegas, M.M., Pérez-Calero, L.: Board influence on a firm’s internationalization. Corp. Governance: Int. Rev. 19(4), 351–367 (2011)
Barroso-Castro, C., Villegas-Periñan, M.M., Dominguez, M.: Board members’ contribution to strategy: the mediating role of board internal processes. Eur. Res. Manag. Bus Econ. 23(2), 82–89 (2017)
Becker, G.S.: Human Capital. Columbia University Press, New York (1993)
Beckman, C.M., Haunschild, P.R., Phillips, D.J.: Friends or strangers? Firm-specific uncertainty, market uncertainty, and network partner selection. Organ. Sci. 15(3), 259–275 (2004)
Bennett, R.J., Robson, P.J.A.: The role of boards of directors in small and medium-sized firms. J. Small Bus. Enterp. Dev. 11(1), 95–113 (2004)
Bird, A., Buchanan, R., Rogers, P.: The seven habits of an effective board. Eur. Bus. J. 16, 128–135 (2004)
Boeker, W.: Strategic change: the influence of managerial characteristics and organizational growth. Acad. Manag. J. 40(1), 152–170 (1997)
Boeker, W., Goodstein, J.: Performance and successor choice: the moderating effects of governance and ownership. Acad. Manag. J. 36(1), 172–186 (1993)
Calabrò, A., Brogi, M., Torchia, M.: What really matter in the internationalization of small and medium-sized family businesses? J. Small Bus. Manag. 54(2), 679–696 (2016)
Calabrò, A., Mussolino, D., Huse, M.: The role of board of directors in the internationalisation process of small and medium sized family businesses. Int. J. Glob. Small Bus. 3(4), 393–411 (2009)
Domínguez-CC, M., Cauzo-Bottala, L.: Consecuencias de un cambio de CEO: efectos a largo plazo sobre el equipo directivo y el rendimiento de la empresa. Span J. Finan. Account. 44(1), 72–96 (2015)
Eisenhardt, K.M., Martin, J.A.: Dynamic capabilities: what are they? Strateg. Manag. J. 21, 1105–1121 (2000)
Forbes, D.P., Milliken, F.J.: Cognition and corporate governance: understanding boards of directors as strategic decision-making groups. Acad. Manag. Rev. 24, 489–505 (1999)
Gabrielsson, J., Winlund, H.: Boards of directors in small and medium-sized industrial firms: examining the effects of the board’s working style on board task performance. Ent. Reg. Dev. 12, 311–330 (2000)
Gabrielsson, J., Huse, M.: Governance theory: origins and implications for researching boards and governance in entrepreneurial firms. In: The Historical Foundations of Entrepreneurship Research, pp. 229–255. Edward Elgar, London (2010)
Golden, B.R., Zajac, E.J.: When will boards influence strategy? Inclination × power = strategic change. Strateg. Manag. J. 22(12), 1087–1111 (2001)
Gordon, I.M., Hrazdil, K., Shapiro, D.: Corporate governance in publicly traded small firms: a study of Canadian venture exchange companies. Bus. Horiz. 55(6), 583–591 (2012)
Heidrick & Struggles: Board in Turbulent Times: corporate Governance Report 2009. Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., Paris (2009)
Hendry, J.: Beyond self‐interest: agency theory and the board in a satisficing world. Br. J. Manag. 16(s1) (2005)
Hillman, A.J., Dalziel, T.: Boards of directors and firm performance: integrating agency and resource dependence perspectives. Acad. Manag. Rev. 28, 383–396 (2003)
Janis, I.L.: Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes (1982)
Jaw, Y.L., Lin, W.T.: Corporate elite characteristics and firm’s internationalization: CEO level and TMT- level roles. Int. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 20, 220–233 (2009)
Johannisson, B., Huse, M.: Recruiting outside board members in the small family business: an ideological challenge. Ent. Reg. Dev. 12(4), 353–378 (2000)
Johnson, S.G., Schnatterly, K., Hill, A.D.: Board composition beyond independence: social capital, human capital, and demographics. J. Manag. 39(1), 232–262 (2013)
Johnson, S., Schnatterly, K., Bolton, J.F., Tuggle, C.: Antecedents of new director social capital. J. Manag. Stud. 48(8), 1782–1803 (2011)
Kor, Y.Y., Sundaramurthy, C.: Experience-based human capital and social capital of outside directors. J. Manag. 35, 981–1006 (2009)
Lester, R., Hillman, A., Zardkoohi, A., Cannella, A.: Former government officials as outside directors: the role of human and social capital. Acad. Manag. J. 51, 999–1013 (2008)
Macus, M.: Board capability; an interactions perspective on boards of directors and firm performance. Int. Stud. Manag. Organ. 38(3), 98–116 (2008)
Mallin, C., Ow-Yong, K.: Corporate governance in small companies–the alternative investment market. Corp. Governance: Int. Rev. 6(4), 224–232 (1998)
March, J.G.: Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organ. Sci. 2(1), 71–87 (1991)
Miller, D.: Stale in the saddle: CEO tenure and the match between organization and environment. Manag. Sci. 37(1), 34–52 (1991)
Minichilli, A., Hansen, C.: The board advisory tasks in small firms and the event of crises. J. Manag. Governance 11, 5–22 (2007)
Nelson, R., Winter, S.: An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1982)
Ocasio, W.: Institutionalized action and corporate governance: the reliance on rules of CEO succession. Adm. Sci. Q. 44, 384–416 (1999)
Palacín-Sánchez, M.J., Pérez-López, C.: Los mercados alternativos bursátiles: una perspectiva regulatoria. Cuadernos de Economía 39(109), 1–11 (2016)
Pérez-Calero, L., Villegas, M.D.M., Barroso, C.: A framework for board capital. Corp. Gov. 16(3), 452–475 (2016)
Pugliese, A., Bezemer, P.-J., Zattoni, A., Huse, M., Van den Bosch, F.A.J., Volberda, H.W.: Boards of directors’ contribution to strategy: a literature review and research agenda. Corp. Governance: Int. Rev. 17, 292–306 (2009)
Rosenkopf, L., Nerkar, A.: Beyond local search: boundary-spanning, exploration, and impact in the optical disk industry. Strateg. Manag. J. 22(4), 287–306 (2001)
Sirmon, D.G., Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., Gilbert, B.A.: Resource orchestration to create competitive advantage: breadth, depth, and life cycle effects. J. Manag. 37(5), 1390–1412 (2011)
Tian, J.J., Haleblian, J.J., Rajagopalan, N.: The effects of board human and social capital on investor reactions to new CEO selection. Strateg. Manag. J. 32(7), 731–747 (2011)
Tuggle, C.S., Schnatterly, K., Johnson, R.A.: Attention patterns in the boardroom: how board composition and processes affect discussion of entrepreneurial issues. Acad. Manag. J. 53(3), 550–571 (2010)
Van den Heuvel, J., Van Gils, A., Voordeckers, W.: Board roles in small and medium-sized family businesses: performance and importance. Corp. Governance: Int. Rev. 14(5), 467–485 (2006)
Virany, B., Tushman, M.L., Romanelli, E.: Executive succession and organization outcomes in turbulent environments: an organization learning approach. Organ. Sci. 3(1), 72–91 (1992)
Wincent, J., Anokhin, S., Boter, H.: Network board continuity and effectiveness of open innovation in Swedish strategic small-firm networks. R&D Manag. 39(1), 55–67 (2009)
Winter, S.G. Four Rs of profitability: rents, resources, routines and replication. In: Montgomery, C.A. (ed.) Resource-Based and Evolutionary Theories of the Firm: Towards a Synthesis, pp. 147–178. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell (1995)
Yar Hamidi, D.: Governance for innovation–board leadership and value creation in entrepreneurial firms. Doctoral dissertation, Halmstad University Press (2016)
Zahra, S.A., Filatotchev, I.: Governance of the entrepreneurial threshold firms: a knowledge based perspective. J. Manag. Stud. 41, 885–897 (2004)
Zahra, S.A., Neubaum, D.O., Naldi, L.: The effects of ownership and governance on SMEs’ international knowledge-based resources. Small Bus. Econ. 9, 309–327 (2007)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Domínguez-CC, M., Barroso-Castro, C. (2019). Board Resources and Firm Performance in SMEs. In: Gil-Lafuente, J., Marino, D., Morabito, F. (eds) Economy, Business and Uncertainty: New Ideas for a Euro-Mediterranean Industrial Policy. AEDEM 2017. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 180. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00677-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00677-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-00676-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-00677-8
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)