Strategic leadership and firm speed of internationalization

Building upon Upper Echelon theory, this paper investigates how diversity in the TMT affects the speed of internationalization of a firm. We hypothesize that work-experience diversity among TMT members positively affects the speed of internationalization by stimulating comparison and broadening the perspectives and networks available to the firm. On the other hand, however, we need to distinguish the role of the CEO from the rest of the TMT, believing that the CEO's entrepreneurial vision may be distorted and not pursued if there are identification problems from other TMT members. In this regard, we measure the moderating role of CEO-TMT functional experience dissimilarity by hypothesizing a negative effect on the main relationship. Our analysis based on a longitudinal sample of UK-based firms over an 11-year time span supports our hypotheses and provides important implications from a theoretical and managerial perspective.