Board Structure and Firm Performance in Nigeria

Abstract

Firm performance is determined in varying categorization of internal factors like managerial structure efficiency, corporate governance set up and ownership structure, which are made up of the firm broad structure, as this affects the ability of firms and control of external factors. In this study, the impact of board composition on firm performance in the manufacturing sector is examined. Primary data constructed from research instruments are based on questionnaires administered to 50 manufacturing firms in Nigeria and is aimed at identifying their corporate governance structure and to relate it to the overall performance of the firms. The qualitative response modeling techniques are also adopted for the empirical analysis. The results from the analysis shows that disclosure policy and measures aimed at guaranteeing board independence are very strong performance enhancing factors. On the other hand, conflict of interest among board members is found to exert significant negative impact on firms performance in the study. It is therefore recommended that corporate boards in manufacturing firms in Nigeria would be more effective with fewer but more committed members. Large-size boards may embellish conflict of interest among members and also decrease the sense of personal responsibility, with each board member taking refuge in the collective position.