Women health sector leaders are good for a nation’s wealth, health, innovation, and ethics, among other things, finds a review of the available evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health. Yet despite their unique and positive impact, they are a major underused resource, particularly in low and middle income countries, say the researchers, who call for more and sustained investment to maximise women’s potential and reap the benefits of their contribution.

The appointment of activist-nominated directors is an emerging phenomenon, but they’ve come with increased reports of stakeholder harm. A new study published in Strategic Management Journal found that activist directors bring immediate benefits to shareholders, but they appear to impose a managerial myopia that results in executives becoming less inclined to make long-term investments. The research team also found that the adverse effects on stakeholder harm are strongest when a director is a delegate — i.e., they work directly for an activist investor — compared with a trustee, who is appointed by, but does not work for, an activist investor.

The research team — Brian L. Connelly of Auburn University, Mark R. DesJardine of Dartmouth College, Wei Shi of University of Miami, and Zhihui Sun of Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing — pulled data on thousands of companies that had directors appointed to their board by an activist investor between 2008 and 2019. They compared these boards to those without activist-nominated members to determine the likely consequences of the board appointments across a broad range of scenarios.