This article investigates the effects of board structure and internal
Corporate-Governance (CG) mechanisms on firm value in an emerging
market with concentrated ownership and family involvement. Using a
unique Hong Kong (HK) panel dataset from 2001 to 2009, we create a
board-structure index that captures board independence, balance of power
and conflicts of interest. We also construct other major CG mechanisms to
correctly specify our model. We combine the 13 CG attributes, which
consist of binary and continuous variables, with four CG mechanisms,
using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In contrast with prior
evidence from developed markets, our results indicate that firms with
independent board structure are associated with higher firm value and are
both statistically and economically significant. The results also suggest that
board structure is the most important among the major internal CG
mechanisms.