The board of directors is widely regarded as a vital governance mechanism that plays an important function in business. How boards are structured, the processes in which they are involved and the role they play vary across different types of firms and countries, with significant implications on how boards perform. In Pacific Island Countries (PICs) board appointments (particularly on state-owned enterprises) are difficult to explain without the suspicion that constituency loyalty has been repaid or that other political debts have been discharged. Too often, ethnicity (the wantok system as known in the Melanesian countries of the Pacific), gender, trade-union affiliation and other forms of political correctness have become the basis for board appointments. In this book, the author takes the reader through how these factors influence the structural make-up of boards, the different processes in which boards participate and how these affect the ability of boards to perform their roles using empirical evidence from PICs. The book is a must-read for board chairpersons, board secretaries, directors, senior managers and policy-makers in PICs. Academics and the general public in PICs and elsewhere who are interested in corporate governance issues should also find this book a valuable reference.
