This study departs from prior research on the impact of individual TMT (Top Management Team) characteristics on organizations and instead focuses on the configuration of various TMT characteristics. The purpose of this study is to identify, based on a taxonomic approach, what types of configurations exist in the external linkage capabilities and knowledge stocks held by TMTs. Furthermore, it seeks to examine what characteristics are shared among firms possessing similar external linkage capability clusters and knowledge stock clusters, and what differences exist between dissimilar firm clusters. For this purpose, the study investigated 282 TMT members at the director level and above from 75 firms across 43 manufacturing industries in Korea. The research findings showed that TMT external linkage capabilities were divided into three clusters: traditional network-holding firms, network-deficient firms, and social network-holding firms, with significant inter-cluster differences in firm liquidity, performance (ROA, environmental adaptability), and government regulation. TMT knowledge stocks were divided into three clusters: firms with low and homogeneous tenure and weak core competencies, firms with high and homogeneous tenure and diverse work knowledge, and firms with low and heterogeneous tenure and strong core competencies, with significant inter-cluster differences in firm age, size, and government regulation. Finally, in a limited but descriptive examination, sub-groups derived by combining external linkage capability clusters and knowledge stock clusters were analyzed for differences centered on firm performance.