New paper by Prof Keil on entrepreneurial directors published in Strategic Management Journal
Boards often add directors with entrepreneurial backgrounds to spark innovation, corporate venturing, and strategic renewal, especially in technology-intensive firms where staying ahead depends on continual reinvention. Our new paper, titled «Collision In The Boardroom: Director Skill Interdependence And Corporate Entrepreneurship In Technology-Intensive Firms», coauthored with Stevo Pavićević from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and Shaker Zahra from University of Minnesota, shows these directors do matter: when entrepreneurs sit on the board, firms tend to allocate more resources to corporate entrepreneurship. But the boardroom is a collective decision arena, and a director’s impact depends on who else is in the room and where key discussions happen.
Specifically, the influence of entrepreneurial directors weakens as finance-skilled directors become more prevalent, both on the full board and on the corporate development committee that shapes long-term growth initiatives. Finance experts bring valuable discipline, but their emphasis on predictability, control, and near-term financial logic can dampen support for high-uncertainty, resource-intensive entrepreneurial investments. The practical takeaway is that boards should think beyond “adding the right person or skill” and instead design the mix and deployment of skills: how entrepreneurial and finance perspectives are balanced, and how committee assignments are structured, can meaningfully shape the firm’s capacity to invest in innovation and long-term renewal.
The full paper can be accessed here: http://doi.org/10.1002/smj.70075