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The purpose of this paper is to show if the use of information technology (IT) strengthens the growth and development of insular firms. It investigates IT usage in an ultra‐peripheral territory of the Economic Union and aims to gain a better understand between the use of the IT and the growth and development of insular firms.

This research examines 118 of the largest Réunionese firms and several interesting factors are identified. Certain characteristics such as size, age, diversification of activities or lack of diversification, status as a subsidiary of a larger firm, degree of computerization and if electronic communications influence IT use were specifically examined. Also looked at were certain factors that could illustrate the relationship between IT use and firm growth and development.

This paper presents findings and discusses these in terms of the degree of utilization of IT by insular firms, the development of external relationships and the importance of developing IT investment to reduce transaction costs within Réunionese enterprises. From this research, there is an assumption that the use of IT may have an impact on the growth and development of insular firms.

This research reported in this paper focused only on Réunion Island and not on other insular contexts. Further European ultra peripheral regions must be investigated to support the findings.

The findings can help governments, public and private actors to increase the ICT investments of insular firms in order to reduce costs and improve the growth and development of local firms.

The originality of this paper is the focus on the role of IT on the growth and development of insular firms.

This paper aims to examine if certain board characteristics have an impact on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) score of corporations.

The authors’ paper analyzes the link between the ratings of CSR of the largest publicly traded Canadian firms (i.e. those included in the S&P/TSX 60 index) and the traits of their boards.

The authors’ examination concludes that the CSR score is positively linked with the percentages of women and independent directors. The study did not find a link in the cases of board characteristics, namely, director’s remuneration, director’s tenure and director’s ownership.

The study focuses on the 60 largest public Canadian firms, which are strongly scrutinized. An analysis that includes smaller firms as well may show different results.

To improve the ability of boards of directors to deal with CSR, the appointment of women and independent directors should be given greater emphasis. Data show that all boards in their sample are composed of at least 50 per cent of independent directors, with an average of 80 per cent. Thus, there is a more limited room to ameliorate CSR by adding independent directors. In contrast, women represented, on average, only 14.25 per cent of all directors. Companies wanting to improve their CSR should consider appointing more female participation in their boards.

The paper contributes to the extant literature on corporate governance by presenting evidence of a link between CSR and certain board characteristics.