Seminar
Deadlock on the Board
Finance
| Speaker: | Nadya Malenko, Boston College |
|---|---|
| Website: | https://www2.bc.edu/nadya-malenko/ |
| Date: | Tuesday 19 February 2019 |
| Time: | 13:45 |
| Location: | Kolade Teaching Room |
Further details
We develop a dynamic model of board decision-making. We show that a board could be unable to make a decision even if all directors agree on what the best decision is. Thus, directors may retain a CEO they agree is bad-a deadlocked board leads to an entrenched CEO. We explore how to compose boards and appoint directors to mitigate deadlock. We find that board diversity and long director tenure can exacerbate deadlock. Moreover, we rationalize why CEOs and incumbent directors have power to appoint new directors: to avoid deadlock. Our model speaks to short-termism, staggered boards, and proxy access.