The usual arguments for adding women directors are that diverse boards are more creative and innovative, less inclined to "group

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问题     The usual arguments for adding women directors are that diverse boards are more creative and innovative, less inclined to "groupthink" and likely to be more independent from senior management. Numerous studies show that high proportions of women directors coincide with superior corporate performance. But there is little academically accepted evidence of a causal relationship. It may be that thriving firms allow themselves the luxury of attending to social issues such as board diversity, whereas poorly performing ones batten down the hatches.
    Women do seem to be particularly effective board members at companies where things are going wrong. A 2008 paper on the impact of female directors by Renee Adams and Daniel Ferreira of the University of Queensland and the London School of Economics found that bosses of American firms whose shares perform poorly are more likely to be fired if the firm has a relatively high number of women directors. On average, however, the paper concluded that firms perform worse as the proportion of women on the board increases. There is certainly no shortage of companies capable of producing outstanding results with few or no women on the board.
    Nor is there any doubt that in many cases low female representation also reflects a lack of meritocracy (rule by merit) in corporate culture. In France, for instance, interlocking board memberships are common. Women, and many other deserving businesspeople, are excluded from the system.
    But what most prevents women from reaching the boardroom, say bosses and headhunters, is lack of hands-on experience of a firm’s core business. Too many women go into functional roles such as accounting, marketing or human resources early in their careers rather than staying in the mainstream, driving profits. Getting men to show up at every board meeting—an effect of having more women on boards—is all very well, but what firms really need is savvy business advice. Yet according to EPWN, the pipeline of female executives is "almost empty": women occupy only 3% of executive roles on boards, compared with 12% of non-executive ones.
    That suggests that the best way to increase the number of women on boards is to ensure that more women gain the right experience further down the corporate hierarchy. That may be a slower process than imposing a quota, but it is also likely to be a more meaningful and effective one.
The reason why diverse board is closely linked with thriving company is probably that _____.

选项 A、women contribute more to the board than men
B、only successful firms can afford a diverse board
C、diverse boards are academically accepted
D、diverse boards are more creative and innovative

答案B

解析 根据题干的diverse board及thrivng company定位到第一段。题干说的“多元化董事会与兴旺的企业紧密相连”与第一段②句中提到的研究结果相符,文中③句说尚未有学术界接受的证据能证明两者之间的因果关系(即多元化董事会能导致企业兴旺)。④句解释说,可能只是因为兴旺的公司才有余力关心类似董事会多元化这样的问题,而效益较差的公司根本无暇顾及此类问题,B项与④句所述对应,故为正确答案。
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