Regulators, proxy advisors and shareholders are regularly calling for independent directors. However, at the same time, independent directors commonly engage in numerous outside activities potentially reducing their time and commitment with the particular firm. Using Tobin's Q as an...

Boards of directors have been subject to unprecedented pressure to change and professionalize in the last decades. We analyze board structures of blue-chip firms in Switzerland between 1988 and 2017. The study shows that exogenous sources, not particularly induced by hard law, have had an...