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RESEARCH into goings-on in company boardrooms by a veteran of the Scottish corporate scene may raise doubts about the validity of an assumption that has informed corporate governance reform projects in the UK for years.

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In some quarters, it is taken as read that the more non-executive directors there are on a company's board the better its governance will be.

This is based on the reasonable-sounding assumption that increasing the number of experienced and intelligent people who are available to ask pertinent questions will reduce the chances of the executives who run firms being able to make a mess of things.