Peder Greve

Regionalization strategy and performance: The moderating role of industry dynamism and top management team diversity

Purpose – This paper contributes to the debate about the performance implications of adopting a regional as opposed to a global strategic posture. The aim of this paper is to argue that the performance effects of a regionalization strategy vary based on the characteristics of the industry in which the MNE operates and the composition of its top management team (TMT).Design/methodology/approach – This analysis is based on a cross‐sectional dataset of 211 large European MNEs headquartered in four Western European economies at the end of 2005.Findings – Results show that firms adopting a regional orientation outperform MNEs with global strategic positioning. This positive relationship is less pronounced under conditions of industry dynamism and inter‐regional TMT diversity.Originality/value – The study contributes to our understanding of whether and under what conditions MNEs benefit from adopting a regional as opposed to a global strategic posture.

International experiential diversity and performance at project organizations: The case of national football teams

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed new light on the link between diversity in project teams and team performance by examining the effects of players’ international career diversity on the performance of national football teams.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon the literature on project organizations and experiential diversity in teams. Using data on players’ international career backgrounds and team performance from the FIFA World Cup 2006, the authors test two hypotheses linking experiential diversity in teams and a measure of relative team performance. The dataset includes detailed individual background profiles of the 736 participating players and performance data from the 64 games played at the tournament.Findings – The findings suggest that different types of experiential diversity have contrasting effects on team performance in a time‐limited project team setting.Research limitations/implications – These findings encourage team diversity researchers to further examine th...

Differences that matter: hiring modes and demographic (dis)similarity in executive selection

Scholars, practitioners, and policymakers have long acknowledged the importance of understanding the antecedents of top management team (TMT) composition. Yet, research on how and why firms select executives who are demographically dissimilar to incumbent TMT members remains limited. We take a step toward answering these questions by employing a sample of 575 individual-level executive appointments at 170 large European firms between 2005 and 2009. Drawing on the person-group fit perspective, we argue that firms are more likely to appoint socio-demographically dissimilar executives through internal promotion – while external hires are more likely to socio-demographically resemble incumbent top managers. Our results support the hypothesized relationship. They also show that this relationship is influenced by the level of administrative complexity and environmental uncertainty facing the firm. Overall, our theory and results enhance our understanding of ‘why top management teams are composed the way they are’, by highlighting the impact of internal and external hiring modes in the selection of demographically (dis)similar executives.

Stepping down but not out: characteristics of post-executive careers in Switzerland

This chapter sheds light on retirement behaviour in the executive labour market segment, presenting characteristics and trends in the market for executives’ post-career activities and employing Switzerland as a case in point. The observations are based on a dataset comprising the 104 executives who retired from top management positions at 50 of the largest publicly listed Swiss companies and left the executive labour market between 2006 and 2008. The findings show that there is an emerging market for post-executive activities in Switzerland, and that the type, intensity, and location of activities pursued in the post-executive labour market are related to the demographic characteristics and career profiles of retiring executives.

Entwicklungen und Trends im europäischen Arbeitsmarkt für Topmanager

Die Frage nach den Besetzungen im Topmanagement kommt insbesondere in Krisenzeiten immer wieder auf. Schlieslich werden gerade in Zeiten des Umbruchs Positionen im Topmanagement nicht selten neu besetzt. Fur solche Positionen ist mittlerweile ein Arbeitsmarkt fur Fuhrungskrafte entstanden. In Europa wird dieser Arbeitsmarkt immer starker von der zunehmenden internationalen Mobilitat der Topmanagementkandidaten gepragt. Dadurch haben sich wahrend der letzten Jahre nicht nur die Profile der Topmanagementteams in europaischen Grosunternehmen verandert, sondern auch die Anforderungen an die Kandidaten fur Positionen im Topmanagement. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse einer Studie zu Topmanagementteams in den grosten Unternehmen in sieben europaischen Landern prasentiert.