• Assess how CEOs’ backgrounds and traits influence strategic decisions and performance in international operations.
• Examine how psychological factors like overconfidence and hubris shape executive behavior and multinational outcomes.
• Apply interdisciplinary insights to evaluate how leadership impacts global strategies and competitiveness.
• Explore how institutions and cultural contexts influence executive decision-making across global markets.
• Analyze governance mechanisms, such as boards and executive compensation, in multinational settings.
• Evaluate how MNEs address ethical, social, and environmental responsibilities across regions.
• Develop strategies to balance stakeholder demands and achieve sustainable outcomes in diverse international markets.

Multinational firms operate in a high-stakes environment characterized by complexity, uncertainty, and information gaps. In this landscape, the decisions of top executives profoundly shape the trajectory and success of their firms. CEOs, with their diverse educational backgrounds, unique personalities, and varied experiences, bring a wide range of factors to the decision-making process. This course examines how these leaders influence strategic choices and assesses their impact on firm performance. Drawing on insights from economics, psychology, and sociology, we explore how traits such as overconfidence and hubris shape executive behavior and business outcomes, offering a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic relationship between leadership and multinational success.

In the second part of the course, we focus on the governance structures of firms, analyzing both formal and informal institutions that guide executive decision-making and promote value-enhancing actions. Corporate governance seeks to mitigate the risks of biased or self-serving decisions by CEOs. Key governance issues relevant to international business are addressed, including ownership structures, the role of boards of directors, executive compensation, and stakeholder influence. Additionally, the course delves into the ethical dimensions of decision-making, exploring how companies address social and environmental responsibilities and adapt to technological advancements that impact governance practices.

The format of the course is based on two elements:

Current academic literature: We will not use a textbook but a collection of academic papers that deal with specific issues of leadership and corporate governance, many of which have just been published in the recent years.

Student participation:You will actively participate in the class. In groups, you might be asked to present a paper, the solution to a case study and, if feasible, discuss a current example from the business press for which the paper is relevant.

Since this is a topic course, there does not exist one single course book covering the material in the course. Most of the required material is free to download when you are logged into the CBS network.. Some materials may be uploaded on Canvas.

• Classic and basic theory
• Teacher’s own research
• Methodology

• Analysis
• Discussion, critical reflection, modelling

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corporate governance of environmental sustainability: A review and proposal for

more integrated research. Journal of Management, 47(6), 1468-1497.

Barker III, V. L., & Mueller, G. C. (2002). CEO characteristics and firm R&D

spending. Management Science, 48(6), 782-801.

Burkhard, B., Sirén, C., van Essen, M., Grichnik, D., & Shepherd, D. A. (2023).

Nothing ventured, nothing gained: A meta-analysis of CEO overconfidence, strategic

risk taking, and performance. Journal of Management, 49(8), 2629-2666.

Chatterjee, A., & Hambrick, D. C. (2007). It's all about me: Narcissistic chief

executive officers and their effects on company strategy and performance.

Administrative Science Quarterly, 52(3), 351-386.

Chen, S., & Feldman, E. R. (2018). Activist-impelled divestitures and shareholder

value. Strategic Management Journal, 39(10), 2726-2744.

Chin, M. K., Hambrick, D. C., & Treviño, L. K. (2013). Political ideologies of CEOs:

The influence of executives’ values on corporate social responsibility. Administrative

Science Quarterly, 58(2), 197-232.

Cohen, S., Kadach, I., Ormazabal, G., & Reichelstein, S. (2023). Executive

compensation tied to ESG performance: International evidence. Journal of

Accounting Research, 61(3), 805-853.

Cumming, D., Filatotchev, I., Knill, A., Reeb, D. M., & Senbet, L. (2017). Law,

finance, and the international mobility of corporate governance. Journal of

International Business Studies, 48, 123-147.

Djankov, S., R. La Porta, F. Lopez-de-Silanes and A. Shleifer (2008): The Law and

Economics of Self-Dealing, Journal of Financial Economics, 88, 430-46.

Hayward, M. L., & Hambrick, D. C. (1997). Explaining the premiums paid for large

acquisitions: Evidence of CEO hubris. Administrative Science Quarterly, 103-127.

Heath, D., Macciocchi, D., Michaely, R., & Ringgenberg, M. C. (2022). Do index

funds monitor? The Review of Financial Studies, 35(1), 91-131.

Jean Tirole, “The Theory of Corporate Finance”, Chapter 1.

Larcker & Tayan (2016), CEO Pay at Valeant: Does Extreme Compensation Create

Extreme Risk?

Li, J., Li, P., & Wang, B. (2019). The liability of opaqueness: State ownership and the

likelihood of deal completion in international acquisitions by Chinese firms. Strategic

Management Journal, 40(2), 303-327.

Murphy, K. J. (2013). Executive compensation: Where we are, and how we got

there. Chapter 1, 2 (except 2.1.2) and 4. In Handbook of the Economics of

Finance (Vol. 2, pp. 211-356). Elsevier.

Renee Adams, Hermalin, Ben, and Mike Weisbach (2010), The Role of Boards of

Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey, Journal

of Economic Literature, 48(1), 58-107

Villalonga, B., & Amit, R. (2020). Family ownership. Oxford Review of

Economic Policy, 36(2), 241-257.

Zattoni, A., Leventis, S., Van Ees, H., & De Masi, S. (2023). Board diversity’s

antecedents and consequences: A review and research agenda. The Leadership

Quarterly, 34(1), 101659.