Aspects of the corporate governance of companies listed at the São Paulo stock exchange: an exploratory study on the composition and profile of the boards of directors

Corporate governance has been indicated as one of the key factors of the performance of companies. At the same time, according to the good governance practices disseminated in the academic and corporate environments, special attention must be paid to how the boards of directors of open capital corporations are formed and how they act. There are several studies on corporate governance, but only a handful explores the intricacies of the boards of directors. This article analyzes the composition of the boards of directors of companies listed at the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (BOVESPA) in 2004 belonging to two of the main industries present at the stock exchange: Food & Drink and Electric Energy. A total of 434 board members from 61 different companies were examined with the statistical package SPSS® for data analysis. The results show a large majority of male members (91.9%). As for higher education, almost 7% of the board members do not have a degree. Additionally, it was found that more than 80% of the board members included in the study have a seat in the board of directors of only one company. Key words: corporate governance, board of directors, education.