Managing institutional distance: Examining how firm-specific advantages impact foreign subsidiary CEO staffing

Abstract Based on the insight that superior access to knowledge can help foreign firms overcome liabilities of foreignness, we examine whether possession of firm-specific advantages shifts foreign firms’ CEO staffing strategies from local managers, who provide host-market insight, toward expatriates, who possess knowledge transfer and coordination capabilities. We find that, as institutional distance increases, firm-specific advantages from multinationality, regional agglomeration, and host-country experience substitute for the host-market insight of local CEOs. Foreign firms with such advantages instead staff the CEO role with expatriates. Our results are practically relevant to MNCs seeking to allocate a limited talent pool across different institutional contexts.