Xiaoyun Yu discusses her article Brain Gain of Corporate Boards: A Natural Experiment in an interview with Kelley MBA student Jimmy Bettcher. Yu, Associate Professor of Finance at the Kelley School of Business, begins with an overview of her research study that examined publicly traded companies in China and their boards of directors. In particular, the study evaluated if the overseas education or work experience of board members could be linked to the performance and profitability of their companies. As Yu explains, the study revealed that a company experienced a greater improvement in performance when a higher percentage of its directors had some sort of overseas business education or experience.æ Specifically, overseas experience influenced company performance through improved corporate governance, access to greater overseas opportunities, and knowledge of financing mechanisms. As a result of this study, Yu recommends that emerging economies send more employees to developed countries as their experience will help the performance of companies in their home country. *This video was recorded as a part of the Indiana University CIBER Focus Vodcast Series.
