研究：女性更善於做商業決策

Companies wishing to perform better and cut their risk of bankruptcy should have more female directors on their board of directors.

Women's abilities to make fair decisions when competing interests are at stake make them better corporate leaders, researchers have found.

A survey of more than 600 board directors showed that women are more likely to consider the rights of others and take a cooperative approach to decision-making. This approach translates into better performance for their companies.

The study, published this week in the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, also found that male directors prefer to make decisions using rules, regulations and traditional ways of doing business.

Female directors, on the other hand, are less constrained by these parameters and more prepared to use initiative than male colleagues.

In addition, female directors - who, globally, make up around nine percent of corporate boards - are significantly more inclined to make decisions by taking the interests of multiple stakeholders into account in order to arrive at a fair decision.

They also tend to use cooperation, collaboration and consensus-building more often - and more effectively - in order to make sound decisions.

The study was conducted by Chris Bart, professor of strategic management at the DeGroote School of Business at Canada's McMaster University, and Gregory McQueen, a McMaster graduate and senior executive associate dean at A.T. Still University's School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona.

Bart said: 'We've known for some time that companies that have more women on their boards have better results.

'Our findings show that having women on the board is no longer just the right thing but also the smart thing to do. Companies with few female directors may actually be shortchanging their investors.'那些希望提升業績和降低破產風險的公司應該在董事會中增加女董事的比例。

研究人員發現，在競爭利益受到威脅時，女性能做出公平的決定，這使她們能更好地領導公司。

一項涵蓋了600多名董事的調查顯示，女性會更多地考慮他人的權益，在決策時更可能採取合作的態度。這種態度會讓公司運作得更好。

本週發表在《國際企業管理和道德期刊》上的這一研究還發現，男董事更喜歡運用法規和傳統經商方法來做出決策。

而女董事則比較不會被這些因素束縛，她們比男董事更具有首創精神。

此外，女董事更顯著地傾向於在做決定時考慮各個股東的利益，從而做出更公平的決策。全球範圍內公司董事會中女董事的比例約爲9%。

她們還會更多也更有效地採取合作、協作和建立共識的態度，以做出正確的決策。

該研究是由加拿大麥克馬斯特大學德格魯特商學院戰略管理學教授克里斯•巴特和美國亞利桑那州的A •T•斯蒂爾大學骨科醫學院的高級執行副院長、畢業於麥克馬斯特大學的格雷戈裏•麥奎因聯合開展的。

巴特說：“我們早前就已經瞭解到，那些董事會中有更多女董事的公司業績更好。

“我們的研究結果顯示，在董事會中增加女性成員不再只是正確的決定，而且還是明智的決定。那些女董事太少的公司也許實際上正在忽悠投資人。”