The impact of CEO succession on top management teams and the degree of firm internationalisation

In this paper, we used CEO succession events to explore the effects of the post-succession Top Management Team (TMT) structural changes on a firm's change in its degree of internationalisation. In addition, we examined the moderating effects of the industrial environment on the relationship between post-succession TMT changes and a firm's change in its degree of internationalisation. We tested hypotheses by using 2000-2005 data from 185 succession observations from listed companies in Taiwan as a research sample. The results show that a firm will opt for higher levels of change in its international scale degree when there is a high degree of structural change that occurs in its post-succession TMT. Moreover, the impact of post-succession TMT changes to a firm's degree of international scale increases significantly when the firm faces a munificent or complex industry environment.