CentER

Oleg Chvyrkov

Abstract:
The most important trends for firms during the last decade, in terms of what drives their competitive advantage, are globalization and technological innovation. It is important, both from a theoretical and a practical perspective, to understand what sort of leadership is needed to anticipate and manage these challenges. A variety of studies have explored how top management team characteristics (TMT) drive technological innovation. However, only a few studies have explored how the observable characteristics of TMTs influence international innovation; these studies are very partial and provide mixed results. Research presented in this thesis explores the precursors and consequences of TMT composition in the context of international expansion.