The top management team and corporate performance

Abstract

This research tested the relationship between the characteristics and background of U.S. top executives, and measures of corporate performance. Data were obtained from 953 top managers; the dominant coalition of the largest 150 companies within five U.S. industries—dairy, footwear, tyres, mobile homes, and machine tools. Results were generally positive: managerial characteristics not only predicted performance variations within industries—the top performers having significantly different managerial profiles than poorly performing companies—but also that the characteristics of managers within high-performing companies were similar across the five industries.