刺激股價的女董事
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GS(14)@2012-08-01 23:42:23http://thehousenews.com/finance/ ... %E8%91%A3%E4%BA%8B/
女性進駐高層，對公司的良性影響，越來越多人關注。最近瑞信的研究，直指女董事有利上市公司股價。
瑞信調查了全球2300家上市公司，發現有女董事的上市公司，在過去6年均跑贏和尚寺董事局，效果對大價股尤其顯著，跑贏幅度達26%，而細價股的幅度亦有17%。不過，瑞信的調查指，跑贏主要出現於海嘯後。
同時，有女董事的董事會，借貸比率一般較低，減債的速度也較快，顯示女董事有助勒住男董事，令公司無咁冒進。
For large-cap stocks, boards with women members have outperformed those without by 26 per cent over the past six years; for smaller fry, the figure is 17 per cent. But in both cases, this outperformance came after 2008’s ructions. Second, the study notes that when women are represented at board level, companies tend to have lower gearing.
《金融時報》於是建議，派一批娘子軍進駐銀行的董事局，可能比加強監管，更有效解決銀行頻頻炒濃的問題。
http://nicosiamoneynews.com/2012 ... rds-risk-onrisk-off
As any scientist can confirm, the fact that two events repeatedly occur together does not mean one causes the other. Trying to explain the link is often the challenge. So it is with the debate over gender diversity in corporate boardrooms. As political pressure to get more women on boards intensifies, various statistical studies – from McKinsey to Ernst & Young – have suggested that higher female representation is accompanied by better financial and stock market performance. The question is why.
New research published by the Credit Suisse Research Institute and looking at data for more than 2,300 companies worldwide, has produced an intuitively-appealing explanation. First, it notes a difference in results pre- and post-the 2008 crash. For large-cap stocks, boards with women members have outperformed those without by 26 per cent over the past six years; for smaller fry, the figure is 17 per cent. But in both cases, this outperformance came after 2008’s ructions. Secondly, the study notes that when women are represented at board level, companies tend to have lower gearing. More than that, gearing came down faster post-2008 when female directors were present. The authors are wisely cautious about drawing facile conclusions and admit that nothing is proved. But, in a nutshell, one explanation may be that female directors encourage risk-aversion – which is beneficial in bleak market conditions.
If correct, this may have some interesting implications. For a start, it is unclear whether investors should welcome female representation so wholeheartedly once the business climate changes and the name of the game becomes risk-taking and growth. But that said, perhaps policy makers should stuff the boards of companies which repeatedly take too many risks with female-only directors. Banks come to mind. Anyone volunteering to take on Barclays or UBS?
Email the Lex team in confidence at lex@
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GS(14)@2012-08-01 23:45:08https://infocus.credit-suisse.co ... positions_FINAL.PDF
Report
https://infocus.credit-suisse.co ... coid=284071&lang=EN
Women on the Board Contribute to Outperformance
The key finding is that, in a like-for-like comparison, companies with at least one woman on the board would have outperformed stocks with no women on the board by 26 percent over the course of the last 6 years. However, there is a clear split between relative performance over 2005 to 2007 and the post 2008 performance. In the middle of the decade when economic growth was relatively robust, there was little difference in share price performance between companies with or without women on the board. Almost all of the outperformance in the back-test has been delivered post 2008, since the macro environment deteriorated and volatility increased. In other words, stocks with greater gender diversity on their boards generally look defensive: they tend to perform best when markets are falling, deliver higher average ROEs through the cycle, exhibit less volatility in earnings and typically have lower gearing ratios.
The bottom line is that relative outperformance of stocks with women on the board looks unlikely to be entirely consistent, but the evidence suggests that a bit more balance on the board brings with it a bit less volatility and a bit more balance through the cycle.
Why Do Women on the Board Enhance Performance?
The report identifies seven key reasons why greater gender diversity could be correlated with stronger corporate performance:
(1) A signal of a Better Company
There is a body of research that suggests that appointment of women to the board is a sign that the company is already doing well rather than a signal of greater things to come. The Research Institute's analysis found that it was indeed the larger companies that, to some extent by definition, have already performed well, that were more likely to have women on the board representatives. However, the strong outperformance of companies with women on the board, even in an exclusive comparison of the large caps, suggests there may be other facets to the relationship.
(2) Greater Effort Across the Board
Evidence suggests that greater team diversity (including gender diversity) can lead to better average performance. Research conducted by Professor Katherine Philips at Columbia University has shown that majority groups improve their own performance in response to minority involvement producing better average outcomes in more diverse environments.
(3) A Better Mix of Leadership Skills
McKinsey and NASA have conducted various studies on leadership skills and have shown that women are particularly good at defining responsibilities clearly as well as being strong on mentoring and coaching employees. Hence, the idea that a degree of gender diversity at the board level would foster a better balance in leadership skills within the company may hold merit.
(4) Access to a Wider Talent Pool
Data from UNESCO shows that by 2010, the proportion of female graduates across the world came to a median average of 54 percent. This compares to a median average of 51 percent female graduates in 2000. The trend towards an even greater proportion of female graduates looks set to continue if female success at primary and secondary school level is any guide. Hence, any company that achieves greater gender diversity is more likely to be able to tap into the widest possible pool of talent that is implicit in these graduation statistics.
(5) A Better Reflection of the Consumer Decision Maker
To the extent that women are responsible for household spending decisions, it makes sense that a corporate board with female representation may enhance the understanding of customer preferences. Not surprisingly, consumer-facing industries already rank among those with the greater proportion of women on the board.
(6) Improved Corporate Governance
There is unusually strong consensus within the academic research that a greater number of women on the board improves performance on corporate and social governance metrics.
The Research Institute's analysis of the MSCI AC World constituents showed that stocks with women on board are more likely to have lower levels of gearing than their peer group where there are no women on the board. Lower relative debt levels have been a useful determinant of equity market outperformance over the last four years, delivering average outperformance of 2.5 percent per annum over the last 20 years and 6.5 percent per annum over the last four years.
Gender Diversity and Senior Management
Gender diversity within the senior management team has become an increasingly topical issue for three reasons:
Although the proportion of women at board level generally remains very low, it is changing. On our numbers, only 41 percent of MSCI ACWI stocks had any women on the board at the end of 2005, but this had increased to 59 percent by the end of 2011.
Government intervention in this area has increased. In the last 5 years, 7 countries have passed legislation mandating female board representation and 8 countries have set non-mandatory targets. China may even add a woman to the powerful nine "man" Standing Committee of the Politburo towards the end of 2012.
Most interestingly, the debate around the topic has shifted from an issue of fairness and equality to a question of superior performance. If gender diversity on the board implies a greater probability of corporate success then it would make sense to pursue such an objective regardless of any government directive.