Dusseldorf Artificial intelligence (AI) and digitization are two of the top issues for the economy. However, the supervisory boards of the largest German corporations rarely attest to their own expertise. This is confirmed by an analysis of the individual competence profiles of the 40 DAX corporations by the HR consultancy HKP Group and the European Center for Board Effectiveness (ECBE), which is available exclusively to the Handelsblatt.
At Merck, Continental and Henkel, for example, no knowledge of digitization, transformation or artificial intelligence appears in the profiles. These were apparently not asked. For the chairmen of the supervisory board, Wolfgang Büchele (Merck), Wolfgang Reitzle (Continental) and Simone Bagel-Trah (Henkel), other competencies such as financial expertise and industry experience seem to be more important – or to count exclusively.
Even in corporations such as BMW, Siemens Healthineers and Munich Re, which have explicitly asked about digitization knowledge and, for example, expertise in the areas of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, things are not looking much better. Not even every second supervisory board stated that they could demonstrate knowledge in these fields.
Only 39 percent of the supervisory boards of the Dax companies see themselves as digital experts. On the other hand, two out of three inspectors state that they have knowledge of the industry, can demonstrate personnel experience and have competence in the area of sustainability.
“Different orientations” of the supervisory boards
“The competency profiles show that the supervisory boards have very different orientations,” says Regine Siepmann, partner at the HR consultancy HKP Group. You can see different priorities in the Dax.
“Some committees concentrate very strongly on their control function in their profiles,” explains Siepmann, “The others present themselves with additional, future-oriented competencies such as innovations and personnel more as strategists and consultants.” This is an indication that the upheaval from Passive to active supervisory board, which also helps shape the future of a group, has not yet taken place everywhere.
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This is also reflected in the composition: never before have there been so many women on the supervisory bodies of the Dax companies. But while the committees are becoming more diverse, the number of mandates per supervisory board is also increasing. Many supervisors control several companies at the same time.
Concern is growing that the old “Deutschland AG” could come back. What is meant by this is a time when many important supervisory board mandates were in the hands of a small group of managers.
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In addition, there are new thematic requirements: The topic of artificial intelligence is driving executive floors worldwide. “AI will take top management to a new level,” said Krishnan Rajagopalan, head of the world’s leading human resources consultancy Heidrick & Struggles, in an interview with Handelsblatt.
Study author Siepmann considers it positive that all DAX companies publish the competence profiles at all. So far, this is only a recommendation of the Corporate Governance Code and not yet a legal requirement.
Marc Tüngler, General Manager of the German Association for the Protection of Securities (DSW), sees it similarly. In principle, he “expressly” welcomes the new individualized competence profiles. With regard to the selection, however, he criticizes: “If such skills as digitization and artificial intelligence are missing, this also reveals how little future-oriented the supervisory board sees itself and how little the ‘council’ discipline plays a role.”
Debate about greater standardization
Tüngler, who is also a member of the German Corporate Governance Commission, calls for further standardization of the competence profiles in order to increase transparency and comparability. “Firstly, a standardization of the presentation is desirable and secondly, it will establish itself in practice,” he says.
When allocating the individual competencies, a distinction must be made as to whether someone has little or extensive knowledge, and not just whether this knowledge exists at all.
At the same time, the lack of skills such as digitization and artificial intelligence reveals how little future-oriented the supervisory board sees itself and how little the “council” discipline plays a role. Marc Tüngler, General Manager of the German Association for the Protection of Securities (DSW)
Some supervisory board members take a critical view of such demands. Daniela Mattheus, who controls Deutsche Bahn and Commerzbank and is involved with ECBE, says: “Total control of the supervisory board’s competencies is not possible anyway. In addition to transparency, it is also about trust.”
However, the analysis also shows that further training for supervisory board members must be taken seriously. “It can’t just be about finding new supervisory board members. Acting inspectors also have to develop skills in future topics with further training,” says Mattheus.
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