N° 26: Effectiveness and Structure of Boards of Directors at State-owned Enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Board of Directors is a key governing body for all types of enterprises, due mainly to the fact that it provides a toehold on the alignment of the management process. The importance of understanding the dynamics of the Boards of Directors at State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), and proposing specific practices aimed at their strengthening, lies in the need to establish directing bodies that are more professional and effective. A Board of Directors that works well is one that is able to draw up strategies, create value and act as a collegiate entity with shared responsibilities. Building strong effective Boards of Directors at SOEs is no easy task. Previous failures of high profile companies’ Boards, the competition with the private sector, the boom of new technologies, as well as citizens who are increasingly better informed and demand sound management of public resources, are only some of the reasons why good practices by Boards of Directors are important to any public company. This paper constitutes a first attempt to understand and gain insight into how the governance models used by Boards of Directors at SOEs are working in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as to identify related opportunities