Abstract
This study takes a behavioral perspective on the antecedents of strategic alliances. Considering the impact of CEOs on their organization’s strategic choices and behaviors, career variety and its motives pose a particularly influential and interesting executive characteristic. By analyzing a multiyear sample of the S&P 500 companies, this study offers two main contributions to management research: 1. The study connects TMT research with strategic management research to reveal a TMT-based antecedent of a firm’s composition of strategic alliance portfolios. 2. We introduce a novel concept to analyze and understand the influence of career variety as an observable characteristic. Results propose that while the alliance portfolio size increases with an increasing level of career variety of a CEO, mid-ranged executives are most capable of creating a balanced and ambidextrous strategic alliance portfolio as well as a healthy mix of competitive and non-competitive partnerships. These results contradict current market mechanisms revealed by previous studies, which point to an increasing market value of CEOs with greater career diversity.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
