The Impact Of Top Management Team With Overseas Background On Firm Performance

As the domestic market competition continues to intensify,the active implementation of the “going out” strategy has become an important way for companies to seek new sources of profit growth and gain market share.However,although the export and foreign direct investment have continued to accelerate in recent years in our country,there are still many problems in the process of internationalization,such as slow growth of overseas performance levels,limited number of enterprises successfully entering developed countries,internationalization strategies and innovations strategies are ambugious.The executives’ decision-makers lack understanding of internationalization and leadership.Then,how can the management ability of the senior management team be constructed and upgraded to be more qualified for the company’s international development strategy? This thesis will explore whether we can enhance overall performance of the executive team through enhancing the overseas background of the top management team(including overseas study background,overseas work background and foreign executives)from the perspective of direct acquisition of international knowledge and skills.In terms of research content,based on the 2011-2016 panel data of 185 Chinese ICT industry listed companies,this thesis focuses on the relationship between the overseas study background,the overseas work background of the top management team,and the proportion of foreign members short-term performance and long-term performance of the company.The empirical research considers the adjustment role of the enterprise internationalization level in causality,and subdivides the information technology industry into two sub-sectors of equipment manufacturing and information service industry,and make the comparative analysis in the causal relationship between variables in the two sub-sectors.In terms of research results,three main findings were obtained.First,in terms of causality,it was found that the overseas background characteristics of the three executive teams had a significant positive impact on the long and short-term performance of the firm.Compared with the short-term performance,the overseas background of top management team have a great impact on the long-term performance of the company.It is found that the overseas background characteristics of the top management team have long-term strategic value.Secondly,in terms of regulation effect,the internationalization level of the enterprise negatively adjusts the causal relationship between the executive team background and the long-term and short-term performance of the firm.It is concluded that in the early days of internationalization,the top management team needs to acquire overseas knowledge and accumulate overseas experience.In the latter period,the top management team’s demand for overseas learning and other experience decreased due to the accumulation of overseas knowledge.Third,in the group comparison of sub-industries,it is found that the above causal relationship and adjustment effect are significantly different between the two industries of equipment manufacturing and information service.