We investigate the importance of board expertise by analyzing the role of “directors from related industries” (DRIs) on a firm's board. DRIs are officers and/or directors of companies in the upstream (supplier) or downstream (customer) industries of the firm. About 40% of firm-years in our...

We investigate the importance of board expertise by analyzing the role of “directors from related industries” (DRIs) on a firm's board. DRIs are officers and/or directors of companies in the upstream (supplier) or downstream (customer) industries of the firm. About 40% of firm-years in our...

We use over 22,000 firm-year observations from 1995-2010 to investigate whether combining roles of CEO and board-chair causes poor performance. Our research design allows us to reconcile disagreement in the literature about whether CEO-chair duality impacts shareholder value. CEOs are awarded...