The impact of US company internationalization on top management team advice networks: A tacit knowledge perspective

This study surveys 37 U.S multinational corporations (MNCs) to examine the effect of internationalization on one dimension of the top management team' s (TMT's) character: international business advice network density. This st udy draws on international business (IB) theory, the resource-based view of the firm, and philosophy of science and its view of tacit knowledge. Resul ts show that both the firm's internationalization extent and the interdepen dence that exists across its country-market activities, are positively rela ted to the TMT's IB advice network density. As the extent of the MNC's busi ness outside the United States grows and the linkages among its IB units in tensify, the demand for IB expertise within the TMT increases, TMT members share each other's knowledge of IB more extensively and the TMT's IB advice network density increases. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.