This study investigates the association between CEO foreign work experience and CEO total compensation. The sample contains 863 observations from 2007 to 2016 from seven European countries. As certain aspects of foreign work experience are considered beneficial for the firm, it is likely that those who have worked abroad may appropriate some of the benefits themselves in the form of higher compensation. Contrary to the proposed positive association based on the resource-based theory, I find evidence that CEOs with foreign work experience receive significantly lower levels of total compensation compared to similar CEOs without foreign work experience, regardless of the diversity of their work experience. The results are robust to the endogenous CEO selection using a propensity-score matching method. The results show that the negative association between CEO foreign work experience and CEO total compensation is more pronounced for CEOs that are at the head of firms with a higher level of internationalization, measured as percentage of foreign sales. Managerial implications and suggestions for related future research are provided.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explain how the gender diversity of the top management team affects the disclosure strategy regarding gender diversity, in state-owned enterprises. The study, in addition, tests if hybridity, conceptualized as conflicting institutional logics, has a moderating effect on this relationship. Theoretical perspectives: With its starting point in the upper echelon theory, the study uses both positive accounting theory and signaling theory to explain managers’ disclosure decision, where the intuitional logics approach represents the moderating decision-making context. Methodology: The study is based within the positivistic paradigm, following a deductive approach and quantitative methodology. Both the textual and visual diversity content of the annual reports of 30 state-owned enterprises over a 5-year period, is collected and analyzed using the Spearman correlation matrix and multiple regression analysis. The moderating effect of hybridity is tested through hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis. Findings: The findings of the study provide partial support for the relationship between the gender diversity of the top management team and gender diversity disclosure, suggesting that the influence of management depends on the means of disclosure. No support is found for the claim that hybridity has a positive moderating effect on this relationship. However, incorporating hybridity stills indicates that integrating the institutional context into the upper-echelons model facilitates understanding about the relationship, by establishing conditional boundaries and identifying main effects.

本研究主要探討高階經營團隊成員的背景與企業國際擴張策略之間的關係。以高階經營團隊成員的學經歷背景為討論重點，探討高階經營團隊成員國外經驗的有無、教育程度的高低，以及本科專業異質性的程度是否會對企業海外投資金額的多寡與對大陸地區投資的集中程度造成影響。由高層理論可以得知，高階經理人個人的認知基礎與價值觀會成為他們進行策略選擇的依據，因此，要探討企業選擇某一策略的原因時，就必須從其高階經營團隊成員著手。本研究選擇臺灣的電子產業為樣本，以臺灣經濟新報資料庫（TEJ）中產業代碼分別為M2324半導體、M2326光電業、M2328電子零組件與M2329電子通路業等之公司為研究對象，研究時期為2001年、2006年以及2012年。實證結果發現，若高階經營團隊成員的國外經驗愈多，對海外地區（不包含大陸地區）的投資金額愈高；若高階經營團隊成員的教育程度愈高，對大陸地區投資的集中程度愈低；然而，關於高階經營團隊成員主修專業異質性的部分，則並未得出任何顯著之結果。本研究之發現不僅再一次證實過往研究的結果，確定高階經營團隊成員對企業的重要性，更給企業在聘用高階經理人時提供參考，若企業未來有往國際擴展的目標，則應盡量聘用擁有國外經驗的高階經理人，借助其經驗與優勢，讓企業在國際市場上能更有效率且成功地發展。 / This study investigates the relationship between the background of top management team and international expansion. It discusses whether foreign experience, the level of education and major heterogeneity will influence the amount of overseas investment and the concentration degree of investment in China or not. According to the upper echelons theory, personal cognitive basis and value of top managers have an impact on their decision-making process. Thus, in order to understand the reasons why an enterprise chooses one strategy, it is necessary to explore its top management team. Relying on data from Taiwan's electronics industry (TEJ codes M2324, M2326, M2328, M2329), we find that certain characteristics of top management team are related to international expansion. Empirical results show that, if the top management team members have more foreign experience, the amount of overseas investment will be higher; additionally, if the top management team members with higher education levels, the concentration degree of investment in China will be lower. However, concerning the effect of major heterogeneity, it does not find any significant results. In a word, the findings of this study not only confirm the importance of top management team but also provide a reference for a company when employing top managers.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-06-17T21:12:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ivano Ribeiro.pdf: 1650931 bytes, checksum: 68ed9b8dac8df9af8189abb64aaaa020 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-17T21:12:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ivano Ribeiro.pdf: 1650931 bytes, checksum: 68ed9b8dac8df9af8189abb64aaaa020 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-06 / The boards are seen as a real black box due to knowing little about the influence of its members in organizational decisions. Few studies have addressed this issue in family corporations, either being by the low number of formal councils or the difficulty to access information. This study aimed to answer the following question: what is the influence of the board composition in strategic decision making in a large family corporate group? For this purpose, a content analysis of 38 proceedings and two board meeting transcripts of a large family corporate group was performed. The results indicate that the internal members have a strong focus on operational issues, while the external members are guided in strategic aspects. The existence of two families in the shareholding control creates conflicts, and there is also support for decisions within the family. The members with extensive experience are resistant to change their opinions and avoid decisions involving retrenchment, even facing unfavorable scenarios. The main contributions of this study relate to: identify some theoretical dimensions that involve the study of decision making; evidence to show that conflicts between different families are detrimental to decision making in the board; and indications that the participation of outside directors is critical to increasing the strategic focus of the decisions. / Os Conselhos Empresariais são observados como uma verdadeira caixa preta devido ao pouco que se conhece sobre a influência de seus membros nas decisões organizacionais. Poucos estudos abordaram este tema em empresas familiares, seja pelo baixo número de Conselhos formais existentes, seja pela dificuldade de acesso a suas informações. Neste estudo buscou-se responder a seguinte questão: qual a influência da composição do Conselho na tomada de decisão estratégica em um grupo empresarial familiar de grande porte? Para isso foi realizada uma análise do conteúdo de 38 Atas e duas transcrições de reuniões do Conselho de um grupo empresarial familiar de grande porte. Os resultados indicam que os membros internos possuem grande foco em questões operacionais, enquanto os membros externos se pautam em aspectos estratégicos. A existência de duas famílias no controle acionário gera conflitos, havendo também apoio das decisões dentro do núcleo familiar. Membros com grande experiência são resistentes a mudanças de opiniões e evitam decisões que envolvam retrenchment, mesmo diante de cenários desfavoráveis. As principais contribuições deste estudo se relacionam com: identificação de algumas dimensões teóricas que envolvem os estudos sobre tomada de decisão; indícios que apontam que os conflitos existentes entre diferentes famílias são prejudiciais para a tomada de decisão no Conselho; e indicativos de que a participação de conselheiros externos é fundamental para o aumento do foco estratégico das decisões.

This cumulative dissertation investigates the role and implications of top managers in firms. By building on two influential contemporary phenomena – internationalization and digitalization – and by examining top managers from a multitude of conceptional and methodological angles, the dissertation provides novel insights to upper echelons research. The first study examines the association between top management team (TMT) internationalization and firm innovativeness and argues that the accumulation of international knowledge and resources in the TMT benefits firm innovativeness. The second study analyzes the association between CEO internationalization and firms’ strategic risk-taking, paying particular attention to various governance mechanisms that may influence this relationship. The third study explores the role and facilitating actions of top managers in response to the digital transformation. Overall, this dissertation contributes toward a more fine-grained understanding of top managers and their individual characteristics. Given the contemporary relevance of the topics under consideration, the presented findings are of significant value for both theorists and practitioners.:Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Scope of the dissertation and research gaps 1.2 Theoretical foundation 1.3 Empirical foundation 1.4 Research purpose and scientific contribution Chapter 2: Research article 1 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Theory and hypotheses 2.3 Methodology 2.4 Results 2.5 Discussion and conclusions 2.6 Limitations and future research Chapter 3: Research article 2 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Theory and hypotheses 3.3 Methodology 3.4 Results 3.5 Discussion and conclusion 3.6 Limitations and future research Chapter 4: Research article 3 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Theoretical background 4.3 Data and method 4.4 Findings 4.5 Discussion References

Bakgrund och problematisering: Här diskuteras bakgrunden till studien och en problematisering kring chefers karaktärsdrag och dess påverkan på kapitalstruktur samt vad som menas med dessa begrepp. Vidare tar detta kapitel upp det underliggande intresset att förklara sambandet mellan tre chefers karaktärsdrag (CEO, CFO och COO) och kapitalstruktur. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att förklara effekten av individuella chefers karaktärsdrag på svenska börsnoterade företags kapitalstruktur.  Metod: Företagens kapitalstruktur undersöks genom att använda en kvantitativ forskningsmetod med en deduktiv forskningsansats för att identifiera förhållanden mellan chefernas karaktärsdrag och hävstång. Paneldata används från 114 svenska börsnoterade företag över en femårsperiod (2014-2018). Studien fann totalt 179 chefer varav 87 CEO:s, 73 CFO:s och 19 COO:s. Den insamlade datan testas genom regressionsanalyser där paneldata regressioner med random effects-modellen och robusta standardfel utförs.  Slutsats: Resultaten från testerna visar på både signifikanta och icke-signifikanta förhållanden mellan de tre chefernas karaktärsdrag och företagens kapitalstruktur, mätt som hävstång. Det finns därmed bevis som tyder på att olika karaktärsdrag hos individuella chefer påverkar företags kapitalstruktur. / Background and problematization: This chapter presents a discussion of the background for the study and a problematization about top managers’ characteristics impact on capital structure as well as the meaning of the terms. Furthermore this chapter discusses the underlying interest to explain the relationship between three top managers characteristics (CEO, CFO and COO) and capital structure. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain the effect of individual managers’ characteristics on Swedish publicly traded companies’ capital structure. Method: Panel data is used from 114 different Swedish publicly traded companies over a period of five years (2014-2018). The study found a total of 179 top managers in the 114 companies, including 87 CEO:s, 73 CFO:s and 19 COO:s. The companies’ capital structure is investigated using a quantitative research method with a deductive approach to explain the relationship between the top managers’ characteristics and leverage. The data is tested through regression analyses using panel data regressions with random effects model and robust standard errors. Conclusion: The results of the study shows both significant and insignificant relationships between the three top managers’ characteristics and the companies’ capital structure. There are hence some evidence suggesting that different characteristics of individual top managers do impact companies’ capital structure in terms of leverage.

Целью исследования является оценка влияния демографических и профессиональных характеристик руководителей промышленных предприятий на их цифровизацию для выработки рекомендаций по повышению успешности реализации цифровой трансформации российских компаний. Объект исследования. В качестве объекта исследования послужили российские предприятия обрабатывающей промышленности. Предмет исследования. Предметом исследования является механизм взаимосвязи персональных характеристик руководителя и цифровизации промышленных предприятий. Методология исследования. Теоретической и методологической основой исследования послужили теория высших эшелонов, и агентская теория. Для эмпирического анализа был построен порядковый логит. Информационная база исследования была составлена автором на основании данных опроса RUFIGE и базы данных Bureau van Dijk RUSLANA. Научная новизна. Научная новизна исследования заключается в том, что было произведено развитие теории «высших эшелонов», но в отличие от авторов, которые изучают отдельные личные характеристики руководителей, в данном исследовании характеристики были рассмотрены в совокупности (демографические и профессиональные).Данное исследование является одним из немногих в России, так как анализирует предприятия обрабатывающей промышленности с использованием эконометрической модели, которое одновременно рассматривает множество персональных характеристик генерального директора и их влияние на цифровизацию предприятий. Практическая значимость исследования. Практическая значимость исследования состоит в том, что его результаты и представленные рекомендации могут быть способствовать совершенствованию процессов внедрения цифровых технологий в производственные процессы. Также результаты исследования могут быть использованы собственниками компаний и советами директоров для подбора кандидатов на должность генерального директора. / The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of demographic and professional characteristics of managers of industrial enterprises on their digitalization in order to develop recommendations to improve the success of the digital transformation of Russian companies. Object of the study. The object of the study is the Russian enterprises of the manufacturing industry. Subject of the study. The subject of the research is the mechanism of interaction between the personal characteristics of the manager and the digitalization of industrial enterprises. Research Methodology. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the theory of higher echelons, and agency theory. An ordinal logit was constructed for the empirical analysis. The information base of the study was compiled by the author on the basis of the RUFIGE survey and the Bureau van Dijk RUSLANA database. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the theory of "upper echelons" was developed, but in contrast to the authors, who study individual personal characteristics of managers, in this study the characteristics were considered in the aggregate (demographic and professional).This study is one of the few in Russia, as it analyzes manufacturing enterprises using econometric model, which simultaneously considers many personal characteristics of general manager The practical significance of the study is that its results and the presented recommendations can help to improve the processes of implementing digital technologies in production processes. Also the results of the study can be used by company owners and boards of directors to select candidates for the CEO position.

With rapidly advancing technologies and digital innovations, companies face the need to adapt to the new digital world and to digitally transform their business models. For executing the digital transformation process, more and more companies decide to entrust a new C-level manager with all challenges and complexity arising from digital transformation, the Chief Digital Officer (CDO). As the CDO position is still fairly new, research in this field is limited and requires further attention by scholars. Therefore, this study aims to address three fundamental research questions concerning the nature of the CDO position and corresponding implications not only to inform practitioners but also to enrich the scholarly discussion on CDOs. By understanding existing literature on CDOs based on a systematic literature review, this thesis answers the first research question regarding what characterizes the CDO position. Building on these insights and drawing from a comprehensive theoretical framework consisting of upper echelons theory, contingency theory, human capital theory and the resource-based view, hypotheses are developed for answering research questions two and three. While the second research question focuses on factors, which influence CDO presence within a company, the third research question addresses the impact of a CDO on company performance. Based on a large-scale sample of panel data comprised of S&P 500 companies, generalized estimating equations models, propensity score matching and fixed effects regression models are exploited in order to derive answers for both research questions two and three. As influencing factors for CDO presence, the results show that especially early tenure CEOs and CEOs of larger companies are more likely to employ a CDO. Although no evidence can be observed for positive performance implications of CDOs, also given different company contingencies, the insights of this study's analyses show that certain CDO characteristics as well as in combination with CIO presence and varying CEO characteristics are more favorable over others in terms of company performance measured by return on assets and Tobin's Q.