The Role of Top Management Team Digitalization and Firm Internationalization for Sustainable Business

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the existence of firm digitalization and firm internationalization in selected companies in the European Union (EU). The study provides evidence that upper echelon characteristics bring new competences and skills, including digital skills, which are essential for company internationalization in the modern world of turmoil, crisis and uncertainty. The research paper argues that top management team (TMT) characteristics, and particularly digitalization awareness and skills among the senior management, are critical factors for driving success in international markets and for the sustainability of the business. The dataset in this paper includes around one hundred executive and non-executive profiles in selected European countries, distributed in different industrial sectors. The empirical data have been collected from available online secondary sources on private companies in Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The paper’s findings suggest that a relationship exists between TMT digitalization and firm internationalization. Additionally, the paper’s results illustrate that the companies with an on board Chief Information Officer or Chief Digitalization Officer tend to be more international in comparison to those which do not possess these two job positions in their top management.