The current paper addresses a two-fold research question: Do corporate governance mechanisms in general and boards of directors in particular affect firm-level competitive behavior? If yes, in what manner do the relationships hold?

This paper contributes to the corporate governance literature by developing and testing theory regarding positive and negative synergies between the CEO's and the board's human and social capital. Using a sample of 360 biotechnology firms that went public between 1995 and 2010, we demonstrate...