Knitting Company Performance and Board Interlocks An Exploration with the Finnish Software Industry

A board of directors is a supreme organism of a modern company. Often, a single board member has a place in several companies' management teams. This is called a board interlock and its impact on a single board member, companies and the economics on the whole has been studied for decades. However, there is a lack of understanding how software companies' board of directors interlock as the field is driven by knowledge and relations more heavily than the other fields. Therefore, well-connected board members could be a vital competitive advantage for companies. This study presents a quantitative analysis of 262 Finnish software companies, their boards and performance. The results show that neither high board interlocks nor foreign board members are remarkably related on the performance of companies. The implications of the findings are discussed and future research inquiries are proposed.