Credit Suisse report finds women directors boost company performance
[Brussels, 03 August 2012] A new research report released by the Credit Suisse Research Institute has found positive correlations between gender diversity on boards of administration and the economic performance of companies. “Gender Diversity and Corporate Performance” shows that companies with at least one women on the board have been 26% more successful than had no women over the course of the past six years.
The Credit Suisse study is based in an analysis of the performances of close to 2,400 companies all over the world with and without board members from 2005 onwards. It provides striking evidence on how “greater gender diversity is a valuable additional metric to consider when evaluating investments”, as put by Stefano Natella, co-head of securities research and analytics.
The key findings of the study are that the average return on equity over the last six years is 16% for companies with women, compared with 12% for those without. Also, income of the first group of companies grew 14% on average -compared with 10% for those without-, and also tend to have a higher price-to-book value.
The study also identifies several key reasons to explain why gender diversity is correlated with better performance as, for example, the company having access to a wider talent pool, having a better mix of leadership and improving its corporate governance.
