Can a High Women Quota in Supervisory Boards Influence Enterprise Success?

Abstract

Many large companies in Europe include mainly men in supervisory boards and the women quota is often lower than 20%. In Germany an optional women quota of 30% in supervisory boards was proposed for capital-market-oriented companies in 2016. Some assume that without a gender quota the earnings of enterprises would shrink as male and female members in supervisory teams do not work in such a harmonized and structured way. Others think that a women quota in supervisory boards should be requested by law and should not remain optional. In this context, conducting research and analyzing the impact of the women’s presence in supervisory boards on the success of companies appear as a necessary topic. The present chapter looks at the companies of EURO STOXX 50 in the year 2015 and their success and tries to establish whether this success can be related to the percentage of female members in supervisory positions. It replicates in this way the study of Binder, Alonso-Almeida, and Bremser (2016) which analyzed the relationship between female’s representation in the management board (executive board) and firm performance (measured by earnings before taxes – EBT) of the EURO STOXX 50 companies in 2014. It is in the same time an extension of the original study as the supervisory board is brought under scrutiny.

Citation

Binder, B.C.K. (2019), "Can a High Women Quota in Supervisory Boards Influence Enterprise Success?", Weber, Y., Vrontis, D., Tsoukatos, E. and Shams, S.M.R. (Ed.) The Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives of Management: Challenges and Opportunities (Cross-Disciplinary Management Perspectives), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 71-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83867-249-220191007