| Creating Value with International Boards |  Print |
Text by Mariano A. Davies
Copenhagen Business School, the Danish-American Business Forum and BCCD held a late afternoon seminar 9 December on creating value with international boards. The seminar was hosted by CBS and the welcome address was given by Professor Steen Thomsen, CBS Centre for Corporate Governance, with assistance from a research team, which was led by Trond Randoy, University of Agder, Aleksandra Gregoric and the Centre for Corporate Governance at CBS. They gave an overview of some of the present trends, facts and figures in relation to Board constellation and diversity in Scandinavia. For example, they highlighted that the average age for a Professional Board Member in Scandinavia is 55 years old and that diversity on Boards is still a major challenge.
Speakers included Waldemar Schmidt, ex-CEO at ISS, who emphasized how important it is that Board selection is carried out by external professional recruitment firms to ensure neutrality and best practice. He supported diversity on Boards as a potentially important instrument for creating value. Sanna Suvanto-Harsaae, Chairman of Babysam and Sunset Boulevard, emphasized that company strategy is an Executive task that is overseen by Professional Boards. Some companies incorrectly seem to think it is the role of a Professional Board to design company strategy. She also gave the example of her own experience of working as an International Board Member in Germany where simultaneous translation worked well and on a Pan-Nordic Board where Board Members spoke their mother tongue. Claus Colliander, Egon Zehnder International, supported the need for creating more value through International Boards but also pointed out how difficult it can be to attract appropriate International Executives to the Nordic Region and to pay them the fee levels to which they are accustomed. Lene Skole, CFO at Coloplast, spoke about Coloplast’s positive benefits of setting up a US Advisory Board as a result of a US acqusition, even though including any strategic American Advisors can be very expensive.
Finally, a panel discussion took place where questions were debated. The panel consisted of the speakers and also Pete George, former CEO at CSC, David Adams, New Solutions, and Mariano A. Davies, BCCD President. One of the most debated issues was the importance of putting together a Board with the right competences and avoiding the potential dangers of Board Members being heavily involved in each other’s social networks. |