Do people matter?: Exploring the role of top management teams and CEOs in location decisions

摘要

International location choices of multinational companies (MNCs) havesignificant implications for host countries, home countries and MNCs themselves.Accordingly, the question of where and why firms place activities in certainlocations has been important for international business (IB) scholars. Previousresearch has focused primarily on firm, country and industry level explanations ofthese decisions, with countries serving as the main unit of analysis forconceptualising locations. This investigation argues that our current understandingof these decisions can be augmented by more explicitly considering teams ofexecutives who make these choices as well as by conceptualising these choices ina more fine-grained manner. Specifically, combining insights from upperechelons, faultlines and internationalisation theories; this study develops a coherent framework exploring the role of top management team (TMT) task-relatedfaultlines, chief executive officer (CEO) experiences and environmentalconditions in shaping these decisions.Theoretical ideas are tested on greenfield investments made by a sample oflarge American MNCs in the manufacturing sector during the period 2010-2013.Empirical findings suggest that TMT task-related faultline strength influenceslocation choices of MNCs at the city level, and CEO experiences and contextualfactors internal to the TMT (i.e., TMT overlapping tenure and number of TMTsubgroups) moderate this relationship. Implications for theory, practitioners andpolicy makers are discussed.