Top Management Team Cohesion and Superior Industry Returns

Abstract

Empirical research of the resource-based view (RBV) is still in its embryonic stages. Existing studies show that certain resources are associated with firm performance, that firms appear to be unique bundles of resources, and that some resources appear relatively immobile—thus lending support to RBV’s main premise and its two assumptions. Another important step in systematically testing RBV is to test its main prescription that strategic assets (SAs) are sustainable sources of superior returns. The current research argues that top management team cohesion (TMTC) possesses the characteristics of an SA. Then, in a longitudinal study of 81 classroom simulation teams functioning as the top management teams of competing airlines, the authors show that TMTC is significantly associated with superior returns during the second half of the simulation. Hence, the results lend support to RBV.