Corporate Management: Clubs of Old Boys or Something Else?

Abstract

The European Union has issued a directive initiative on gender quotas to increase the proportion of the under-represented sex among non-executive directors of large companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures. The article critically discusses the impacts of quotas, which despite of the proposals relating to better performance, fundamentally are highly equality driven ignoring the purpose of corporations as entities that seek for long-term, monetary value through investing in skills and knowledge. This article suggests that by identifying professional managerial elites in listed companies’ governance organs and paying attention to their importance as the contributors of company value, male dominance in economic decision-making can be explained. The argumentation is based on the data collected from thirty-six Finnish listed companies. The findings support the presumption of governance organs as groups of competence.