Bang Dang Nguyen
Title of research: The Impact of the External Networks of Directors on Firms
This project investigates the external social networks of directors and their real impact on firms. Using a social-network based measure of director connections with important outside economic agents such as suppliers, bankers, and powerful politicians in a sample of U.S. firms from 1999 to 2011, we study whether and how these network connections impact firm value, performance, and major corporate financing and investment decisions. We also analyse the extent to which network characteristics such as size, closeness, activeness and homophily determine network value. Finally, we propose a robust identification to the endogenous relationship between director network connections and firm value.