IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/fobric/v13y2019i1d10.1186_s11782-019-0063-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heterogeneity in top management teams and outward foreign direct investment: evidence from Chinese listed companies

Author

Listed:
  • Shuai Meng

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Jiayan Yan

    (Nanjing Audit University)

  • Xuebing Cao

    (Keele University)

Abstract

Drawing upon the knowledge-based view and team learning, we investigated how heterogeneity in top management teams (TMTs) in China influences global expansion strategies. Using panel data from Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2014, we found that TMT functional background heterogeneity could positively affect firms’ commitment to outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), as the diversification of TMT members can enrich the team’s knowledge, facilitate efficient team learning, and enhance the decision-making capacity on overseas expansion. However, tenure heterogeneity may hinder knowledge acquisition and team learning among TMT members, hence undermining firms’ OFDI commitment.

Suggested Citation

  • Shuai Meng & Jiayan Yan & Xuebing Cao, 2019. "Heterogeneity in top management teams and outward foreign direct investment: evidence from Chinese listed companies," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-28, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:fobric:v:13:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1186_s11782-019-0063-0
    DOI: 10.1186/s11782-019-0063-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s11782-019-0063-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s11782-019-0063-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jun Xia & Xufei Ma & Jane W. Lu & Daphne W. Yiu, 2014. "Outward foreign direct investment by emerging market firms: A resource dependence logic," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(9), pages 1343-1363, September.
    2. BLOME, Constantin & SCHOENHERR, Tobias & ECKSTEIN, Dominik, 2014. "The impact of knowledge transfer and complexity on supply chain flexibility: a knowledge-based view," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2603, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    3. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1992. "Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 383-397, August.
    4. Jiménez, Alfredo & Luis-Rico, Isabel & Benito-Osorio, Diana, 2014. "The influence of political risk on the scope of internationalization of regulated companies: Insights from a Spanish sample," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 301-311.
    5. Christophe Boone & Walter Hendriks, 2009. "Top Management Team Diversity and Firm Performance: Moderators of Functional-Background and Locus-of-Control Diversity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 165-180, February.
    6. Gassmann, Oliver & Keupp, Marcus Matthias, 2007. "The competitive advantage of early and rapidly internationalising SMEs in the biotechnology industry: A knowledge-based view," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 350-366, September.
    7. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 2009. "The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(9), pages 1411-1431, December.
    8. Hong Zou & Mike B Adams, 2008. "Corporate ownership, equity risk and returns in the People's Republic of China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(7), pages 1149-1168, October.
    9. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    10. Jing-Lin Duanmu, 2014. "State-owned MNCs and host country expropriation risk: The role of home state soft power and economic gunboat diplomacy," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(8), pages 1044-1060, October.
    11. Chow, Chee W. & Harrison, Graeme L. & McKinnon, Jill L. & Wu, Anne, 1999. "Cultural influences on informal information sharing in Chinese and Anglo-American organizations: an exploratory study," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 561-582, October.
    12. Amemiya, Takeshi, 1973. "Regression Analysis when the Dependent Variable is Truncated Normal," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(6), pages 997-1016, November.
    13. Donald C. Hambrick & Stephen E. Humphrey & Abhinav Gupta, 2015. "Structural interdependence within top management teams: A key moderator of upper echelons predictions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 449-461, March.
    14. Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, 2000. "Motivation, Knowledge Transfer, and Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(5), pages 538-550, October.
    15. Hermann Achidi Ndofor & David G. Sirmon & Xiaoming He, 2015. "Utilizing the firm's resources: How TMT heterogeneity and resulting faultlines affect TMT tasks," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1656-1674, November.
    16. Anna Lejpras, 2015. "Knowledge, location, and internationalization: empirical evidence for manufacturing SMEs," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(8), pages 734-754, November.
    17. Xingqiang Du, 2015. "Does Confucianism Reduce Minority Shareholder Expropriation? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 661-716, December.
    18. Saarenketo, Sami & Puumalainen, Kaisu & Kuivalainen, Olli & Kylaheiko, Kalevi, 2004. "Dynamic knowledge-related learning processes in internationalizing high-tech SMEs," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 363-378, June.
    19. Anthony Goerzen & Paul W. Beamish, 2003. "Geographic scope and multinational enterprise performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(13), pages 1289-1306, December.
    20. Li, Peng-Yu, 2018. "Top management team characteristics and firm internationalization: The moderating role of the size of middle managers," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 125-138.
    21. Nagesh Kumar, 2008. "Emerging MNCs: Trends, Patterns, and Determinants of Outward FDI by Indian Enterprises," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Ramkishen S Rajan & Rajiv Kumar & Nicola Virgill (ed.), New Dimensions Of Economic Globalization Surge of Outward Foreign Direct Investment from Asia, chapter 6, pages 141-167, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    22. Yadong Luo & Rosalie L Tung, 2007. "International expansion of emerging market enterprises: A springboard perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 481-498, July.
    23. Jiangyong Lu & Xiaohui Liu & Hongling Wang, 2011. "Motives for Outward FDI of Chinese Private Firms: Firm Resources, Industry Dynamics, and Government Policies," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 7(2), pages 223-248, July.
    24. Deborah Gladstein Ancona & David F. Caldwell, 1992. "Demography and Design: Predictors of New Product Team Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 321-341, August.
    25. Yasuhiro Yamakawa & Mike W. Peng & David L. Deeds, 2008. "What Drives New Ventures to Internationalize from Emerging to Developed Economies?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(1), pages 59-82, January.
    26. Steffen Korsgaard & Henrik Berglund & Claus Thrane & Per Blenker, 2016. "A Tale of Two Kirzners: Time, Uncertainty, and the “Nature†of Opportunities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(4), pages 867-889, July.
    27. Lu, Jiangyong & Liu, Xiaohui & Wang, Hongling, 2011. "Motives for Outward FDI of Chinese Private Firms Firm Resources, Industry Dynamics, and Government Policies," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 223-248, July.
    28. Xingqiang Du, 2016. "Does Confucianism Reduce Board Gender Diversity? Firm-Level Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 399-436, June.
    29. George P. Huber, 1991. "Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 88-115, February.
    30. Alan I. Murray, 1989. "Top management group heterogeneity and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(S1), pages 125-141, June.
    31. Heechun Kim & Robert E. Hoskisson & Seung-Hyun Lee, 2015. "Why strategic factor markets matter: “New” multinationals' geographic diversification and firm profitability," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 518-536, April.
    32. Johan Wiklund & DEAN Shepherd, 2003. "Knowledge‐based resources, entrepreneurial orientation, and the performance of small and medium‐sized businesses," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(13), pages 1307-1314, December.
    33. Jiangyong Lu & Xiaohui Liu & Mike Wright & Igor Filatotchev, 2014. "International experience and FDI location choices of Chinese firms: The moderating effects of home country government support and host country institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(4), pages 428-449, May.
    34. Charles Dhanaraj & Marjorie A Lyles & H Kevin Steensma & Laszlo Tihanyi, 2004. "Managing tacit and explicit knowledge transfer in IJVs: the role of relational embeddedness and the impact on performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(5), pages 428-442, September.
    35. Wei, Yingqi & Zheng, Nan & Liu, Xiaohui & Lu, Jiangyong, 2014. "Expanding to outward foreign direct investment or not? A multi-dimensional analysis of entry mode transformation of Chinese private exporting firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 356-370.
    36. Ziliang Deng & Jiayan Yan & Marc van Essen, 2018. "Heterogeneity of political connections and outward foreign direct investment," Post-Print hal-02312122, HAL.
    37. Shao, Yanmin & Shang, Yan, 2016. "Decisions of OFDI Engagement and Location for Heterogeneous Multinational firms: Evidence from Chinese firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 178-187.
    38. Casillas, José C. & Moreno, Ana M. & Acedo, Francisco J. & Gallego, María A. & Ramos, Encarnación, 2009. "An integrative model of the role of knowledge in the internationalization process," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 311-322, July.
    39. Mitchell, Rebecca & Boyle, Brendan & Nicholas, Stephen & Maitland, Elizabeth & Zhao, Shuming, 2016. "Boundary conditions of a curvilinear relationship between decision comprehensiveness and performance: The role of functional and national diversity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2801-2811.
    40. Peter W Liesch & Gary A Knight, 1999. "Information Internalization and Hurdle Rates in Small and Medium Enterprise Internationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 383-394, June.
    41. Marian V Jones & Nicole E Coviello, 2005. "Internationalisation: conceptualising an entrepreneurial process of behaviour in time," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(3), pages 284-303, May.
    42. Nicholas Athanassiou & Douglas Nigh, 2000. "Internationalization, Tacit Knowledge and the Top Management Teams of MNCs," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(3), pages 471-487, September.
    43. García-García, Raquel & García-Canal, Esteban & Guillén, Mauro F., 2017. "Rapid internationalization and long-term performance: The knowledge link," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 97-110.
    44. Klaus E. Meyer & Saul Estrin & Sumon Kumar Bhaumik & Mike W. Peng, 2009. "Institutions, resources, and entry strategies in emerging economies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 61-80, January.
    45. Liu, Xiaohui & Lu, Jiangyong & Chizema, Amon, 2014. "Top executive compensation, regional institutions and Chinese OFDI," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 143-155.
    46. Jeremy J. Marcel, 2009. "Why top management team characteristics matter when employing a chief operating officer: a strategic contingency perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(6), pages 647-658, June.
    47. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.
    48. Villar, Cristina & Alegre, Joaquín & Pla-Barber, José, 2014. "Exploring the role of knowledge management practices on exports: A dynamic capabilities view," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 38-44.
    49. Gaur, Ajai S. & Kumar, Vikas & Singh, Deeksha, 2014. "Institutions, resources, and internationalization of emerging economy firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 12-20.
    50. Sabina Nielsen, 2010. "Top Management Team Internationalization and Firm Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 185-206, April.
    51. Stoian, Carmen & Mohr, Alex, 2016. "Outward foreign direct investment from emerging economies: escaping home country regulative voids," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 1124-1135.
    52. Santos, Catarina Marques & Passos, Ana Margarida & Uitdewilligen, Sjir, 2016. "When shared cognition leads to closed minds: Temporal mental models, team learning, adaptation and performance," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 258-268.
    53. Casillas, Jose C. & Barbero, Jose L. & Sapienza, Harry J., 2015. "Knowledge acquisition, learning, and the initial pace of internationalization," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 102-114.
    54. Chengqi Wang & Junjie Hong & Mario Kafouros & Mike Wright, 2012. "Exploring the role of government involvement in outward FDI from emerging economies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(7), pages 655-676, September.
    55. Hu, Helen Wei & Cui, Lin, 2014. "Outward foreign direct investment of publicly listed firms from China: A corporate governance perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 750-760.
    56. Protiti Dastidar, 2009. "International corporate diversification and performance: Does firm self-selection matter?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(1), pages 71-85, January.
    57. Fernández-Mesa, Anabel & Alegre, Joaquín, 2015. "Entrepreneurial orientation and export intensity: Examining the interplay of organizational learning and innovation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 148-156.
    58. Blome, Constantin & Schoenherr, Tobias & Eckstein, Dominik, 2014. "The impact of knowledge transfer and complexity on supply chain flexibility: A knowledge-based view," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 307-316.
    59. S. Trevis Certo & Richard H. Lester & Catherine M. Dalton & Dan R. Dalton, 2006. "Top Management Teams, Strategy and Financial Performance: A Meta‐Analytic Examination," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 813-839, June.
    60. Deng, Ziliang & Yan, Jiayan & van Essen, Marc, 2018. "Heterogeneity of political connections and outward foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 893-903.
    61. Talke, Katrin & Salomo, Sören & Rost, Katja, 2010. "How top management team diversity affects innovativeness and performance via the strategic choice to focus on innovation fields," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 907-918, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pei Wang & William Gonzalo Vega Salas, 2020. "Shareholder internationality and importing activities of emerging market firms," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Angels Niñerola & Ana-Beatriz Hernández-Lara & María-Victoria Sánchez-Rebull, 2022. "Top Management Team Diversity and International Expansion: Spanish Companies in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440211, January.
    3. Yaping Xiao & Haishu Qiao & Ting Xie, 2019. "Open-End Funds for Sustainable Economic Growth in China: The Relationship between Load Fees, Performance, and Flows," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-27, November.
    4. Tong Sheng & Bingquan Fang & Xiaoqian Lu & Xingheng Shi & Chaohai Shen & Xiaolan Zhou, 2022. "The Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility, Global Investment, and Equity Incentives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-27, December.
    5. Wu, Wenqing & Wang, Hongxin & Wang, Xinchun, 2022. "Entrepreneur narcissism and new venture performance: A learning perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 901-915.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huiying Luo & Xiaohui Liu & Aiqi Wu & Xiaotong Zhong, 2021. "Is it possible to escape? Local protectionism and outward foreign direct investment by Chinese privately-owned enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 1499-1524, December.
    2. Huang, Yuanyuan & Xie, En & Wu, Zhan, 2021. "Portfolio characteristics of outward foreign direct investment and dynamic performance of emerging economy firms: An option portfolio perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    3. Deng, Ziliang & Yan, Jiayan & van Essen, Marc, 2018. "Heterogeneity of political connections and outward foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 893-903.
    4. Buckley, Peter J & Cui, Lin & Chen, Liang & Li, Yi & Choi, Yoona, 2023. "Following their predecessors’ journey? A review of EMNE studies and avenues for interdisciplinary inquiry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    5. Tajeddin, Mahdi & Farashahi, Mehdi & Moghaddam, Kaveh & Simba, Amon & Edwards, Gwyneth, 2023. "Internationalization of Emerging Economy SMEs: A Tripod Approach," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    6. Li, Wei & Liu, Zhi & Xia, Senmao & Yan, Ji & Xiong, Yu & Sakka, Georgia & Yu Li, Rebecca, 2022. "How can emerging-market SMEs domestically benefit from their performance in developed countries? Empirical evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 200-210.
    7. Chidlow, Agnieszka & Wang, Jue & Liu, Xiaohui & Wei, Yingqi, 2021. "A co-evolution perspective of EMNE internationalization and institutions: An integrative framework of 5Cs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    8. Renfei Gao, 2023. "Inward FDI spillovers and emerging multinationals’ outward FDI in two directions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 265-293, March.
    9. Yadong Luo & Rosalie L Tung, 2018. "A general theory of springboard MNEs," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(2), pages 129-152, February.
    10. Liu, Xiaohui & Gao, Lan & Lu, Jiangyong & Lioliou, Eleni, 2016. "Does learning at home and from abroad boost the foreign subsidiary performance of emerging economy multinational enterprises?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 141-151.
    11. Nguyen, Tam & Verreynne, Martie-Louise & Steen, John & Torres de Oliveira, Rui, 2023. "Government support versus international knowledge: Investigating innovations from emerging-market small and medium enterprises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    12. Penghua Qiao & Mengli Lv & Yuping Zeng, 2020. "R&D Intensity, Domestic Institutional Environment, and SMEs’ OFDI in Emerging Markets," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(6), pages 939-973, December.
    13. Ajai S Gaur & Xufei Ma & Zhujun Ding, 2018. "Home country supportiveness/unfavorableness and outward foreign direct investment from China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(3), pages 324-345, April.
    14. D’Angelo, Alfredo & Ganotakis, Panagiotis & Love, James H., 2020. "Learning by exporting under fast, short-term changes: The moderating role of absorptive capacity and foreign collaborative agreements," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3).
    15. Bin Guo & Gangxiang Xu & Wen Li, 2017. "Seeking legitimacy: Chinese OFDI and domestic isomorphic pressures," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(1), pages 1-24, April.
    16. Hitt, Michael A. & Li, Dan & Xu, Kai, 2016. "International strategy: From local to global and beyond," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 58-73.
    17. Lin Cui & Yi Li & Klaus E. Meyer & Zijie Li, 2015. "Leadership Experience Meets Ownership Structure: Returnee Managers and Internationalization of Emerging Economy Firms," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 355-387, June.
    18. Zhang, Chenyan & Zheng, Wei & Hong, Junjie & Kafouros, Mario, 2022. "The role of government policies in explaining the internationalization of Chinese firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 552-563.
    19. Ren, Monica & Manning, Stephan & Vavilov, Stanislav, 2019. "Does state ownership really matter? The dynamic alignment of China's resource environment and firm internationalization strategies," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 1-1.
    20. Mike W. Peng & Sergey Lebedev & Cristina O. Vlas & Joyce C. Wang & Jason S. Shay, 2018. "The growth of the firm in (and out of) emerging economies," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 829-857, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:fobric:v:13:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1186_s11782-019-0063-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.