US Boards Lack Global Insights

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The Wall Street Journal – US Boards Lack Global Insights

While major US companies increasingly rely on overseas revenue, their boards often remain all-American, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing Egon Zehnder’s recently published Global Board Index™. The Index results suggest that such homogeneity at board level may threaten firms’ international growth prospects. About 45% of large US concerns have zero non-U.S. citizens as board members, estimates George L. Davis, Jr., co-leader of Egon Zehnder’s global board practice. According to the Index, only 7.2% of directors of companies in the S&P 500 index are foreign nationals, representing a marginal increase of 0.6 percentage point versus 2008. Yet boards with extensive global expertise “are better able to exploit the upside and minimize the downside of operating overseas,” notes Davis.

Full story: Joann S: Lublin: At Work: Global Voices Are Absent From U.S. Boards in The Wall Street Journal (30 September 2014)