This Element is an attempt to contribute to the extant literature on boards and corporate governance by exploring in detail the active involvement of the board in the purpose and strategy of the corporation in order to cope with a complex and uncertain environment.

We analyze the performance-board characteristic nexus of Dutch listed firms. The Netherlands has a continental-European two-tier board structure. This makes it interesting to analyze the impact of management and supervisory board characteristics (size, composition and remuneration) on corporate...