| The tasks of developing and implementing strategies for the global arena place demands on the top management team that equal or exceed the requirements of any previous era in American business. In an effort to assess the management needs of the competitive corporation, this dissertation presents and tests a model of the effect of top management team characteristics on international strategic outcomes. Drawing upon both upper echelons and internationalization theories, this study proposes that the international orientation of top management teams directly influences the magnitude of international operations of the firm and the subsequent international performance of the firm. Additionally, other top management team demographic characteristics including age and the average firm tenure of the members of the team are proposed to affect directly the magnitude of international operations of the firm.; Based on a sample of 65 firms operating in the agricultural and construction equipment industry, the computing equipment industry, the branded foods industry and the telecommunications equipment industry, nine hypotheses are tested. Results validate the premise that firms with top management teams that have a greater international orientation, as measured by nationality, international education, and international professional experience, are more apt to engage in international activities. Additionally, the results show that the international orientation of the top management team has a significant effect on the international performance of the firm.; The importance of environmental contextual contingencies is also observed. The industry characteristics of product type and degree of internationalization are found to significantly moderate the relationship between the top management team's international orientation and the strategic outcomes studied.; This work confirms that the knowledge and experiences that managers bring to the top management team comprise key determinants of international strategic outcomes. Thus this dissertation extends the study of top management team characteristics to the international setting and provides new insight into factors that impact the international performance of firms. |
