Background: Corporate governance is crucial for organizational success, with the board of directors as the leading factor. Gender diversity in the boardroom and its impact on companies’ financial performance is a hot topic as legal gender quotas are present in some countries. In Sweden, other regulations are in place though. Research shows that diverse boards enhance decision-making and performance, with gender-balanced boards often leading to increased profitability and turnover. However, some studies suggest negative financial impacts due to a phenomenon known as tokenism.  Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of gender diversity on the stock performance of Swedish industrial and healthcare firms during the crisis periods 2008-2009 and 2020-2021 and to compare the sectors’ outcomes. By studying this relationship, the thesis aims to contribute to existing literature about corporate governance.  Method: This study uses a sample of Swedish industrial and healthcare companies for a panel regression analysis. Data has been collected from Yahoo Finance and the companies’ annual reports. A positivist deductive approach using a quantitative strategy is utilized to test whether the theories are supported by the results. Control variables include firm size, board size, and average age, while the dependent variable is cumulative return, and the independent variable is the percentage of women on the board of directors. Conclusion: The findings suggest that gender diversity influences cumulative returns, particularly benefiting the industrial sector during 2020-2021 and the healthcare sector during 2008-2009. These results illustrate the importance of gender diversity within the board of directors during financial crises, especially in male-dominated sectors in the modern era.

Background: The existing body of research on corporate governance has thoroughly investigated the function of external directors in large, publicly traded companies, predominantly from the perspective of agency theory. Nevertheless, research on non-executive directors in SMEs, especially in countries other than the U.S is relatively few. As SMEs encounter unique difficulties as a result of their informal ownership arrangements and reduced legal obligations in comparison to publicly traded firms, it provides an opportunity for further analysis.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the influence of contingency factors on external directors. Further, the purpose is to explain the self-perception of external directors’ roles, and therefore be able to scrutinize and validate if external directors perceive to engage in similar roles as identified in the public context.  Method: This study adopts a epistemological positivist stance along with a deductive approach to quantitatively explore and explain how external directors' perceptions of their board role are contingent on certain factors. A survey is used to collect data, where the data is analyzed by employing Spearman correlation and multiple linear regression.  Conclusion: The findings of this thesis suggests that that external directors’ perception of the control, strategic and the combinatory multi-perspective role is affected by ownership, number of external directors in the board, business life cycle and size of firm that could explain variances in the support for these roles. The thesis also found support for both agency theory and RDT, however, the study did not found support for the contingencies developed to explore external directors service role.

This thesis investigated if there was an association between board member turnover and gender, alongside the investigation of potential gender-related differences during periods of declining firm performance. The performance variables examined included ROA, EBIT, and Stock Returns. The study encompassed a sample of 291 firms listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Large, Mid, and Small Cap between the years 2020 and 2022 yielding 600 firm-year observations. The thesis used a Poisson regression model to test the hypotheses. We found that the additions of female board members are more likely to follow female departures, and that the association was driven by the independent female board member subsample. Furthermore, the thesis did not uncover any significant statistical evidence indicating differential treatment between women and men when firm performance deteriorates, in the form of an increased likelihood of board turnover for women. Instead, we found that non-independent male board turnover was significantly negatively related to stock returns.

Cette thèse porte sur les déterminants et les enjeux de la diversité du genre dans la composition des instances de gouvernance d'entreprise. Elle a pour objectif de contribuer au débat sur la féminisation du conseil d'administration, mettant en perspective les discussions en cours sur les enjeux économiques de la diversité du genre. Au regard des réflexions théoriques, actuelles ou plus anciennes, sur le rôle et la composition du conseil d'administration dans le processus de création de valeur, la thèse explore les dimensions relatives aux apports de compétences, au processus d'apprentissage organisationnel et à la capacité d'innovation. Les recherches menées corroborent, en particulier, la plausibilité de la thèse du "business case". Les résultats montrent clairement que la féminisation des instances de gouvernance est porteuse d'enjeux économiques et managériaux. Ils soulignent que la féminisation apporte des compétences distinctives au conseil d'administration, qu'elle participe favorablement à la bonne gouvernance, porteuse d'avantages compétitifs, et que le marché financier encourage l'intégration des femmes au conseil d'administration des entreprises. Ainsi, la thèse conclut que les entreprises tirent un apport net à envisager des mesures de féminisation de leurs instances de gouvernance. Toutefois, la prudence s'impose dans le parti pris de systématiser le recours à la diversité du genre au conseil d'administration comme un moyen de performance incontournable. / This thesis investigates the determinants and issues of gender diversity in the composition of corporate governance structures. The thesis aims at contributing to the debate on the feminization of corporate governance structures. It puts into perspective the ongoing debates on the economic value-added of gender diversity in corporate board of directors. Under the current discussions on the role and composition of corporate board in value creation, this thesis focuses on aspects related to competencies, and learning and innovation capacity. The research shows, in particular, the plausibility of the business case theory. The results clearly show that the feminization of corporate governance structures involve economic and managerial concerns. They stress that feminization brings distinctive expertise to corporate board of directors. It participates positively in good governance and as a result, carries out a competitive advantage for companies. In addition, financial market encourages the integration of women in corporate Board of Directors. Although the results call for caution in imposing bias gender diversity in corporate boards as an essential means of performance, the thesis concludes that companies must consider measures of feminization of their governing structures.

Board of Directors of a joint-stock company and position of its members Board of Directors of a joint-stock company is a body whose powers can be divided in two major fields of activity. The first one is called business management and involves organization and conducting of business within the company. The second one includes the right to act on behalf of the company in relations to third parties. The aim of my thesis is to analyze issues related to the so called "concurrence of duties" which has recently become very relevant and there is still no generally accepted solution. Concurrence of duties can be defined as a situation, where a member of the Board of Directors performs, besides his duties, other duties for the company (different from his duties of a member of the Board of Directors) as an employee of the company. These concurrent duties are based on different legal rules, so e.g. the respective liability for damage in connection to the performance of such duties, possibilities of termination of the legal relationship between such person and the company or tax and insurance payment conditions are regulated differently. The problem is that it is unclear how such person is to be considered - whether he/she is a member of the Board of Directors or an employee. I tried to analyze the current...

Conflitos são fenômenos sociais que ocorrem em qualquer organização; entretanto, apresentam-se mais contundentes (e menos compreendidos) na dinâmica da empresa familiar, em função de efeitos psicodinâmicos exclusivos da interação entre família, gestão e propriedade. Paralelamente, conflitos são também particularmente salientes no contexto ambíguo e complexo das decisões estratégicas, especialmente em ambientes colegiados como os conselhos de administração e consultivos - o alto escalão diretivo das organizações, também considerados a \"caixa-preta\" da governança corporativa. Interseccionando as áreas, este estudo mensura o impacto de potenciais antecedentes das facetas cognitiva e afetiva dos conflitos intragrupais, assim como suas consequências em métricas do processo decisório estratégico (qualidade e adoção da decisão), no contexto particular de conselhos (administração ou consultivo) de empresas familiares brasileiras. Investigando 81 processos decisórios estratégicos em conselhos de 81 empresas familiares distintas, mediante estratégia metodológica survey, verifica-se que: i) o percentual de conselheiros independentes não influi na intensidade das discordâncias cognitivas; ii) enquanto que conselhos caracterizados por elevada \"confiança baseada em competência\" tendem a reduzir conflitos afetivos (pessoais), o percentual de familiares apresenta efeito contrário, elevando-os; iii) a qualidade das decisões estratégicas não é influenciada pelos conflitos cognitivos, mas sim pela faceta afetiva, cuja relação (estatisticamente significativa) apresenta sentido negativo. Implicações teóricas e práticas, assim como sugestões de pesquisa, são discutidas na conclusão. / Conflicts are social phenomena liable to occur in any organizational type; however, they´re more intense (and less understood) in the dynamics of family businesses, due to the unique psychodynamic effects of the interaction between family, management and property. At the same time, conflicts can also be particularly salient in the ambiguous and complex context of boards (the \"black box\" of corporate governance), by the intimate connection with strategic decisions. Intersecting the areas, this study identifies and measures the impact of antecedents and consequences of the cognitive and affective dimensions of intragroup conflicts in the strategic decision-making process (regarding the quality and adoption of strategic decisions), in the particular and favorable context of Brazilian family firms´ boards of directors. Investigating 81 decision-making processes in boards of 81 different family businesses, through survey, it is verified that: i) the percentage of independent directors does not influence the intensity of cognitive disagreements; ii) while boards characterized by high \"trust based on competence\" tend to reduce affective (personal) conflicts, the percentage of family members has an opposite effect, raising them; iii) the quality of strategic decisions is not influenced by the cognitive conflicts, but by the affective facet, presenting negative and significant relation. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as research suggestions, are discussed at the conclusion

O estudo da responsabilidade civil dos administradores de companhias abertas na doutrina nacional trata usualmente dos deveres fiduciários, do ato regular de gestão e da teoria ultra vires, da culpa ou dolo do administrador, das ações ut universi e ut singuli e da solidariedade entre a responsabilidade do administrador e a da companhia. Poucos abordam as causas extintivas dessa responsabilidade, e raro são os que tratam da hipótese de exclusão de responsabilidade do artigo 159, § 6º, da Lei nº 6.404/76. Como a disciplina dos deveres fiduciários prevista na lei societária brasileira tem forte influência do Direito norte-americano, buscou-se na legislação, doutrina e jurisprudência daquele país os fundamentos necessários à melhor interpretação e aplicação da regra de exclusão e, em especial, na business judgment rule, doutrina que protege os administradores contra responsabilização por prejuízos à companhia decorrentes de decisões por eles adotadas, proteção esta também conferida pela hipótese do artigo 159, § 6º, da Lei nº 6.404/76, ao administrador leal e de boa-fé. / The study of corporate directors civil liability in national doctrine usually deals with fiduciaries duties, regular management act and the ultra vires theory, directors malpractice or deceit, ut universi and ut singuli actions and solidarity between directors and companies responsibility. Few address the extinctive causes of such liability, and rare are those who address the liability exclusion hypothesis of the Article 159, § 6º, of the Law n. 6.404/76. Whereas that the fiduciary duties discipline provided for in Brazilian corporate law has strong influence of American law, was sought in the legislation, doctrine and jurisprudence of that country the fundamentals for a better understanding and application of the exclusion rule and, particularly, in the business judgment rule, a doctrine that protects directors against liability for damages to the company arising from their acts, protection also afforded by the Article 159, § 6º, of the Law n. 6.404/76, to the loyal and good faith director.

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a relação entre as características do conselho de administração e o desempenho de hospitais sem fins lucrativos. Em busca deste objetivo geral foram estabelecidos os seguintes objetivos específicos: levantar as características dos conselhos de administração de hospitais sem fins lucrativos; descrever os tipos de conselhos de administração de hospitais; mensurar o desempenho operacional dos hospitais via eficiência; analisar a relação entre os tipos de conselhos de administração e o desempenho financeiro dos hospitais; analisar a relação entre os tipos de conselhos de administração e o desempenho operacional dos hospitais; e analisar a relação entre o desempenho financeiro e o desempenho operacional dos hospitais. A fundamentação teórica aborda governança corporativa, Teoria da Agência, Stewardship, características do conselho de administração, desempenho financeiro e operacional em hospitais sem fins lucrativos. A amostra estudada consiste em 43 hospitais sem fins lucrativos brasileiros, com dados referentes ao ano de 2016. As técnicas estatísticas utilizadas foram análise de clusters, análise envoltória de dados e análise de correspondência simples. Foram estudadas as relações entre o conjunto de características dos conselhos de administração (independência, gênero dos membros e profissão) com o desempenho financeiro e operacional dos hospitais. Os resultados indicam que que existe relação significativa entre algumas das características do conselho e os resultados financeiros do hospital. Os tipos de conselho com maior nível de independência e diversidade tendem a ser associados com desempenho financeiro superior. Não foram encontradas relações significativas entre os tipos de conselhos de administração e o desempenho operacional ou entre o desempenho operacional e o desempenho financeiro. Esse trabalho busca contribuir com o entendimento de como elementos do conselho se relacionam com o desempenho financeiro e operacional do hospital. / This work aims to analyze the relationship between the board of directors\' characteristics and the performance of non-profit hospitals. In pursuit of this general objective, the following specific objectives were established: to investigate the board of directors\' characteristics in non-profit hospitals; to describe the types of hospital board of directors; to measure the operational performance of hospitals through efficiency; to analyze the relationship between the types of board of directors and the hospitals\' financial performance; to analyze the relationship between the types of boards of directors and the hospitals\' operational performance; and to analyze the relationship between the hospitals\' financial and operational performance. The theoretical framework addresses corporate governance, agency theory, stewardship, board characteristics, financial and operational performance in non-profit hospitals. The sample consisted of 43 Brazilian non-profit hospitals, with data referring to the year 2016. The statistical techniques used were cluster analysis, data envelopment analysis and simple correspondence analysis. We studied the relationships between the set of board characteristics (independence, members\' gender and profession) with hospitals\' financial and operational performance. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between some of the characteristics of the board and the financial results of the hospital. The types of boards with the highest level of independence and diversity tend to be associated with superior financial performance. No significant relationships were found between types of boards of directors and operational performance or between operational performance and financial performance. This work seeks to contribute to the understanding of how board members relate to the financial and operational performance of the hospital.

Em virtude de sucessivas crises e fraudes envolvendo grandes empresas ocorridas nos últimos anos, a sociedade e os governos passaram a buscar novas formas de controle, além de revitalizar antigas formas que haviam sido deixadas de lado. Sendo o Comitê de Auditoria (CA) uma das fontes mais importantes de controle dentro das atuais necessidades das organizações, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo identificar e analisar os aspectos mais relevantes que o caracterizam. Diversos regulamentos e orientações para regular este órgão (CA), tal como a lei Sarbanes-Oxley, foram criados tanto no Brasil como no exterior e uma comparação entre os normativos e orientações das autoridades e organismos brasileiros com os normativos internacionais foi efetuada. Como contribuição ao conhecimento sobre o tema, uma pesquisa documental foi desenvolvida em 112 empresas de grande porte no Brasil, identificando as principais informações sobre o comitê de auditoria, evidenciadas por essas organizações, utilizando o canal de comunicação da internet. Um índice para efetuar comparações entre as empresas foi criado: o Índice de Disclosure do Comitê de Auditoria (IDCA). Os resultados mostraram que a maioria das empresas componentes da amostra não apresentou um grau de evidenciação sobre o Comitê de Auditoria que permita uma visualização efetiva sobre esse organismo nas organizações pesquisadas. / Successive crises and frauds involving large companies in recent years have driven the society and the governments to seek new forms of control and to revive old forms previously set aside. Since the Audit Committee (AC) is one of the most important sources of control within present needs of the organizations, this research aims to identify and analyze the most relevant aspects that characterize audit committees. Various regulations and guidelines, such as Sarbanes-Oxley Act, were created to regulate AC in Brazil and other countries as well, so a comparison was performed between the Brazilian regulations and guidelines produced by Brazilian and international authorities and regulatory bodies. As a contribution to the knowledge on the subject, a documental research was performed in 112 large companies in Brazil to identify the main information on audit committees disclosed by these organizations using the Internet communication channel. An index to compare companies disclosure on audit committees was created (IDCA). The findings show that most companies of the sample did not present a level of disclosure on the IDCA index to allow an effective view of the audit committee in these organizations.

A governança corporativa visa aumentar a probabilidade dos fornecedores de recursos garantirem para si o retorno sobre seu investimento, por meio de um conjunto de mecanismos no qual se inclui o Conselho de Administração. O tema possui importância crescente, por ser bem difundida a hipótese de que a estrutura de governança afeta o valor da empresa. A questão é descobrir se existe uma estrutura de governança corporativa "melhor" ou "ideal". Vários códigos de governança foram elaborados com este intuito. No Brasil, destacam-se os códigos do Instituto Brasileiro de Governança Corporativa (IBGC) e da Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM). Esta dissertação investiga se a estrutura de governança corporativa foi relevante para as companhias abertas brasileiras de 1998 a 2000 e se as companhias adequadas às recomendações do IBGC e da CVM alcançaram maior valor de mercado ou melhor desempenho. Três variáveis de governança foram consideradas: separação dos cargos de diretor executivo e presidente do conselho (DE), tamanho do conselho (TOT) e independência do conselho (INDEP). Utilizou-se uma regressão múltipla do tipo seção transversal entre as variáveis dependentes de valor e desempenho e as variáveis independentes de governança corporativa. A variável diretor executivo como presidente do conselho (DE) apresentou os resultados mais importantes, com forte evidência de que, em média, as empresas que têm pessoas distintas ocupando os cargos de diretor executivo e presidente do conselho são mais valorizadas pelo mercado. A variável tamanho do conselho (TOT) apresentou uma relação certamente não linear, sugerindo que as empresas com um número intermediário de conselheiros alcançam melhor desempenho. A variável independência do conselho (INDEP) não apresentou relação significativa contra as variáveis de valor e desempenho. / Corporate governance seeks to increase the probability that suppliers of financial resources will assure themselves the return on their investment through a set of mechanisms including the Board of Directors. The subject has growing importance, because it is well spread the hypothesis that corporate governance affects firm value. The question is to find out if there is a "better" or "ideal" corporate governance structure for the firm. Several corporate governance codes were prepared with this purpose. In Brazil, we highlight the IBGC (Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance) and the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) codes. This dissertation investigates if the corporate governance structure was important to Brazilian listed companies from 1998 to 2000 and if the companies more adjusted to the IBGC and CVM recommendations achieved higher market value or superior performance. Three governance variables were considered: the separation of chief executive officer and chairman positions (DE), board size (TOT), and board independence (INDEP). The multiple regression method with cross sectional data was applied between firm value and performance dependent variables and corporate governance independent variables. The variable chief executive officer as chairman (DE) has showed the most important results, with strong evidence that, on average, firms with different people in charge of the chief executive officer and chairman positions have higher market value than the others. The variable board size (TOT) has showed a clear non linear relation, suggesting that firms with an intermediate number of directors achieve superior performance. The variable independence of the board (INDEP) has not showed a significant relation against the variables of value and performance.