Top management teams and the internationalization of SMEs: the importance of team composition and strategic orientations

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore how top management team (TMT) size, diversity and experience are associated with strategic orientations and internationalization in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and thus to provide additional insight concerning upper echelon issues in such firms. Specifically, we will look closer at the strategic consequences of size, diversity and experience of TMTs. An empirical study among Norwegian exporting SMEs indicates that international growth expectations as well as strategic orientations (growth, learning, international) are significantly higher in firms in which top management teams are larger, more diverse and more experienced. Such firms also reach out to more markets internationally and perform better. TMT size and composition seems to be important not only for international new ventures, but also for more established SME exporters.

Top management teams and the internationalization of SMEs: the importance of team composition and strategic orientations