Does board size matter?

SINGAPORE's corporate boards are shrinking. Forget Thai Beverage, which by far has the biggest board in Singapore with 20 directors and quite clearly, is the exception.

Based on a recent study by the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), fewer firms listed on the Singapore Exchange have a board size of seven members or more in 2018 compared to four years ago. A half dozen-member board is the commonly preferred size today.

Some 40-44 per cent of corporate boards in the city state had more than seven or more directors in 2014 and 2016. This number has fallen to 34 per cent in 2018. In addition, the average number of board seats per firm has declined from 6.7 in 2014 to 6.3 per cent in 2018.

That could be a good thing unless, of course, the smaller board size is due to companies scrimping on co…