A board needs to be informed about:

.The external environment; to antici-pate changes in markets, technologies, deregulation, currencies and the like.
*Competitive strategies of traditional and non-traditional competitors — joint ventures, industry alliances, industry consolidation and blurring of industry boundaries.
*Company strategy — its good and weak points.
*The company’s critical people (information not easily available).
*Resource deployment — including human resource management.
*Execution issues — what do we have to do well to succeed? What problems do we face?
*Customer satisfaction quality.
*The business model — how do we make money in this business?
*The risks and opportunities — what’s working well and not working well in operations and the marketplace.
“When directors are informed about key points in each of these areas, they get sense of the company’s overall health, its greatest challenges and the areas of opportunity and vulnerability. Then they can let their incisive and discerning questions and common sense apply,” says Charan.