The Nature of Corporate Variety

This chapter explores the nature of corporate variety. It will look at the different types of company and their stages of development. The framework used to carry out this exercise has been used with over 250 companies and 450 directors in order to help them to assess the present state of their board architecture and plan for change. To illustrate the power of the technique, the framework will be illustrated through case studies that look at a snapshot of various types of company at one moment in their life. In the following chapters the framework will be applied to observe how these companies will change over time, plotting their progress and assessing how the function of the board and its personnel may need to alter with the company.