Composition of the top management team and firm international diversification

This study investigates the impact of various top management team character istics on firm international diversification. Relying on data from 126 firm s in the electronics industry, we find that certain top management team cha racreteristics are related to international expansion. Specifically, result s indicate that lower average age, higher average tenure, higher average el ite education, higher average international experience, and higher tenure h eterogeneity are associated with firm international diversification The stu dy reinforces the importance of top management team composition in internat ionalization decisions and suggests further research in this context. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.