Wei Chien Ng - School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Sin Yin Teh - School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Heng Chin Low - School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

The board of directors are the driving force in determining the performance of the firm in the context of corporate governance. They are responsible for providing the directions of the firm and oversees the activities of the firm inaccordance to the Agency theory. Therefore, the board of directors’ commitment are crucial in driving the firm tosuccess. Findings from numerous studies had revealed that directors’ busyness has significant impact on the firm’s performance. This study aims to tackle the common proxy of directors’ busyness in the firm which is multiple directorships by adopting 3 tools from an inventive problem solving methodology (TRIZ), e.g. Engineering Contradiction, Physical Contradiction and Substance-Field model. TRIZ is commonly used by cross-disciplinary studies to generate new business management ideas and solutions. The solutions derived from these tools will provide new insight in tackling the multiple directorships issue in the firm.

TRIZ, engineering contradiction, physical contradiction, substance-field model, multiple directorships