ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to examine how the roles attributed to the board in a stand-alone company change in business groups, particularly for those that are active in emerging economies. Board roles in group companies depend on whether the board belongs to the controlling entity or the subsidiary. Besides the monitoring, service and strategy roles, the board of the controlling entity assumes a coordination role. The subsidiary, on the other hand, may have diminished roles of monitoring or strategy if it is wholly owned or its operations do not require local knowledge or expertise. Furthermore, the service role of the subsidiary board may be enhanced in a multinational group, due to the existence of distance and differences in the national institutional environment where the subsidiary is active.
