Performance implications of aligning CEO functional experiences with competitive strategies

This study examines the performance consequences of aligning managerial functional experiences with generic competitive strategies and adopts a multidimensional view of generic competitive strategies involving low-cost Leadership and several differentiation based strategies. Using data on a sample of 101 small manufacturing firms, the results of analysis provide substantial support for the alignment hypotheses. The study further tests a series of hypotheses on alignments between combined managerial experiences and hybrid strategies that combine low-cost leadership with differentiation based strategies. The findings indicate that superior performance results in conditions where managerial functional experiences are congruent with the requirements of particular generic or hybrid strategies. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.