Boards of directors’ contribution to strategy and innovation

Boards of directors are expected to contribute to companies’ success and value creation. Both literature in management and governance, and investors and society at large claim that boards should be actively involved in shaping and defining firms’ strategic posture and orientation in addition to the classical monitoring function. Within this broader “strategic task”, fostering innovation, venturing and corporate entrepreneurship are particularly relevant especially in highly competitive contexts. Nevertheless, in spite of a growing awareness and calls for higher involvement of boards into decision-making processes and corporate entrepreneurship, there is still dearth of clarity around the underlying theoretical rationale, determinants and effects of their strategic contribution. This chapter reviews the evolution of governance and management studies over time, highlighting the main contributions and presenting open issues which constitute potential avenues for future research.