Board composition and firm performance: Evidence in Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange
Abstract
The study, which uses unbalanced panel data in analysis, is aiming at finding
the relationship between board composition and firm performance in Vietnam by
collecting all non-financial listed companies on Ho Chi Minh Stock exchange during the
period 2008 - 2012. The variables are divided into 3 categorizes: independent variables is
board composition in the form of proportion of non-executive directors on the board,
dependent variables is firm performance using accounting ROA measure and the control
variables are board size, leverage ratio, firm size and firm age. The hypothesis of positive
relationship between dependent and independent variables is developed base on Agency
theory. After using Ordinary Least Square with fixed effect to analyze the data, the result
shows that there exists no significant association between board composition and firm
performance. This means that non-executive directors cannot add potential value to the
firm’s economic in Vietnam. Non-executive directors assigned on the firm would take the
advantage of giving greater transparency; however, the non-consideration of the different
institutional and cultural context in a transitional economy as Vietnam may not result in
economic value addition to the firm. The final findings provide an insight to the
regulators in their quest for harmonization of international corporate governance practice.
Key words: Board Composition, Non-Executive Director, Firm Performance.