This study sought to evaluate the relationships between top management team (TMT) heterogeneity, competitive repertoire complexity and firm performance. The study was grounded on the upper echelons theory which argues that the TMT characteristics affect the organization’s performance through their influence on strategic choices. This study sought to investigate this relationship using the complete array of strategies deployed by heterogeneous TMTs. The study was conducted through a cross sectional descriptive survey of 53 large food and beverage manufacturers in Kenya. Primary data and secondary data was collected through a structured questionnaire and checklist respectively and analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established that TMT heterogeneity had a significant negative effect on financial, internal processes and social performance in line with the upper echelons theory. Competitive repertoire complexity was not associated with TMT heterogeneity and did not significantly mediate the relationship between TMT heterogeneity and firm performance as expected from the information processing theory. This study contributed to the strategic management field by providing empirical evidence to the upper echelons and resource based view. Managers would benefit by careful consideration of how their TMTs were designed. Policy makers would also be aware about the competitive actions they adopted and their effect on their organizations performance.

This study sought to evaluate the relationship between top management team (TMT) heterogeneity, group cohesion, competitive repertoire complexity and firm performance. This study argued that top management team heterogeneity could affect performance positively or negatively due to the increased ability to deploy a wide range of strategies and increased divisions respectively. Group cohesion was also associated with positive and negative firm performance depending on the group context while competitive repertoire complexity was associated with mixed performance effects. A cross sectional descriptive survey was conducted among 53 large food and beverage manufacturing firms through primary and secondary data which was analyzed through multivariate regression analysis. The study established that TMT heterogeneity, group cohesion and competitive repertoire complexity jointly affected all performance measures except environmental performance. This implied that organizations needed to approach TMT heterogeneity and competitive repertoire complexity cautiously and undertake measures to foster cohesion in the TMT to enhance performance.

The upper echelons theory argues that the characteristics of the senior managers affect firm performance. This study sought to test this proposition by evaluating the effect of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity on firm performance through a cross sectional descriptive survey. Primary data was collected from 53 large food and beverage manufacturing firms using a structured questionnaire and secondary data relating to the firms' financial performance was obtained from the Kenya Revenue Authority. Using ordinary linear regression, the study established that different heterogeneity components had different effects on the various performance perspectives. Age heterogeneity affected financial and customer performance significantly, education level heterogeneity affected customer and internal processes significantly and tenure heterogeneity affected internal processes performance significantly. On the overall, TMT heterogeneity had a significant negative effect on financial, social and internal processes performance. This confirmed the upper echelons proposition and highlighted the harmful consequences of TMT heterogeneity on performance.