Leadership And Leaders In Successful Small And Medium Enterprises

This article discusses the issue of leadership in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We consider the notion that successful companies are and often are leaders in their respective fields of business when it comes to innovation, innovativeness, business courage, openness to new ideas, or the intention to learn new things. Furthermore, we focus on the role of SME owners and managers as leaders who pave the way for the success and growth of their companies. Our results show that specific leadership qualities are generally similar across different fields of business and company types. Furthermore, we demonstrate that there is a clear relationship between leadership and success in doing business. Furthermore, we show that enterprises led by managers or owners who clearly exhibit leadership qualities (e.g. are not afraid to take some healthy risks) are more successful and capture a larger share of the market.

Introduction

There are many different styles of leadership, but the basic skills that make a good leader remain the same (Morrison 2000). The same can be said about entrepreneurs who can be identified as someone who excels from regular businessmen (i.e. people who do business by simply following the same type of activities in which most of their competitors are engaged, without any innovation or invention.

One would probably agree with the saying that the best leadership qualities for entrepreneurs are the ability to motivate others and develop a vision, set clear goals and stay focused, communicate well, give and receive feedback, recognize strengths as well as weaknesses (Karmarkar et al. 2014). Knowing yourself and your teammates, knowing when to ask for outside help, being accessible, being honest and committed, and knowing how to successfully implement a strategy. Any one of these skills can lead to some kind of success, but all of these skills are needed to run a business effectively (Koudelkova and Svobodova 2014).

Developing leadership skills is crucial to the success of an employee who wants to gain influence and become an integral part of their business (Bialows 2018; Littau 2018). In this regard, Garfinkel (2011) provides useful tips on how to stand out and be visible at work and establish yourself as a leader in the ultimate success of your career. It appears that with the right strategy, dedication, patience, and education, one can successfully influence others in a relevant field and become a trusted source of insight and information.

As a notable expert in a particular company, industry, or society, a thought leader is someone who provides guidance and insight to their fellow human beings. In other words, a thought leader has a positive reputation for helping others with his or her knowledge and insight. Examples of great leadership also provide important insights into the administration of an organization, department, or team. Being an exceptional leader is an essential element for your professional development.

For example, growth through mergers and acquisitions requires the top team to have thought leadership and a range of leadership skills, while organic growth requires a greater emphasis on the skills of individuals and organizations. Leadership excellence research has shown that a small group of excellent executives is not enough to run an ambitious business. This fact is particularly relevant for companies that have grown rapidly. A significant group of excellent leaders is needed to drive and maintain business growth. However, the biggest obstacle to their discovery and continued growth was the lack of future leaders who had the necessary skills (Rosli et al. 2018). Overall, it is estimated that it will need several hundred new executives to perform critical business functions within 5 to 10 years. In view of the emerging potential crisis, senior management has made top management a priority (Prebble 1977).

This article focuses on the issues of leadership and leaders (such as managers or owners) in successful small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It can be shown that SMEs are the backbone of any economy and remain the engine of economic growth and development. In many countries, for example in Southern Europe (such as Italy or Spain), the share of SMEs in national economies is very high (Hölzl 2009).

Leaders In Business

Leaders exist everywhere, but business is perhaps the best field where a person can realize his abilities. It is ideologically independent, straightforward and blunt, often cruel (only to remember what can be done to get rid of the competition), but very effective. It is no surprise that many business leaders, after achieving a certain degree of success and accumulating considerable wealth, may consider going into politics, often with varying degrees of success.

It should also be emphasized that the gender aspect in business leadership is still a hot and debated topic. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that many studies have shown that women in the business world prefer to reconcile work and family life, which in some cases can delay their development as business leaders. Given this profile and the gender gap in traditional companies, it seems clear that the cooperative formula is better suited for female executives. In addition, the cooperative movement is better aligned with the goals and strategies of joint development and the fight against social inequality.

The leadership model helps to identify the ideals that will most effectively move a business forward. Each ideal leader has advantages in a particular area, such as: operations, business development or integration of mergers and acquisitions. The mix of ideals in a leadership model influences the highlighted behavior and can be critical to the success of the change effort. The company developed a leadership model that focused on core values ​​such as integrity and fairness, teamwork and spirit, and pride in the organization and its work.

When the team member can assess his or her own performance and identify areas of success and opportunity, maximum benefit is achieved. Including the team member in performance development discussions makes the coaching conversation more robust. In this case, the leader can create a trusting and collaborative atmosphere.

One of the challenges of safety management is the isolation that can creep into the job. Another sees the potential of his or her employees and takes responsibility for their further development. It is not always easy for senior executives, board directors, or human resources managers to know which camp best describes a particular manager. Some spend time organizing themselves, giving the impression that they are thoughtful leaders, when they largely ignore the people who work for them. However, there is one clear measure of whether or not a leader creates leadership: his or her track record.

A leader who develops leaders is likely also someone who can hire and develop individuals whose viewpoints differ from theirs. The people promoted by a leader are an indicator of the ability (or lack of it) to create diversity. To win on many fronts in a complex world, executives need to build leadership. Responding to the feelings of their subordinates is a quality of a true leader. Therefore, if one blames everyone else for certain mistakes, one should try to hold oneself accountable. Conflicts happen daily in the working environment. As a leader, if one wants to improve leadership one’s task is to help as a mediator in conflict resolution.

Leadership and management experience is a cue for owners’ skills and knowledge, just like education. SME owners with more management experience may be aware of growth strategies, foreign markets or other factors that may increase their chances of exporting. SME owners with a considerable amount of experience (often defined as 10 or more years of management experience) are more likely to export and grow their companies (see for example Lee et al. 2015).

Thus, leaders represent the key feature of any business. Without them, companies large and small will never succeed. This can be seen very well on the example of state-run companies (e.g. municipal services in many cities around the world) – while state-run companies are costly and ineffective, private companies that take over after them increase quality and production.

Leadership Competency In SMEs

Based on the concepts of previous studies, this study suggests that business performance and organizational performance are interchangeable, as they all mean the same thing (Litau 2017). This may be due to too much trust in the methods and models used there, as the importance of the concept of organizational performance is overlooked (Ponomarev and Petrov 2019). As such many studies are based on the economic tradition, emphasizing the importance of external market factors in determining organizational performance, while others have built on behavioral and sociological paradigms. First, let us define the subject of our research. SMEs are a sub-class of a larger family of enterprises, yet the most popular in most countries. It is small and easy to manage, but not so small as not to expand and gain new market shares.

One can immediately see differences between different countries, especially between the UK, France, Germany and Italy. The model of leadership and success in enterprises may also be influenced by their geographical location which is in turn due to the national entrepreneurial and management culture. Those studying leadership competencies in companies have developed theories that include traits, situational interactions, actions, behaviours, power, vision and values, charisma and intelligence (Jepson 2009). In the past, some researchers have argued that the actual influence of senior executives on organisational outcomes has been exaggerated and romanticised by biased attributions of senior executives (Blight et al 2011). It has been shown that the ability to acquire these unique powers enables leaders to influence subordinates and peers through the control of organisational resources.

Leaders need to know how and when they can best apply, change or withhold approaches, tools and processes that can deliver results. Senior executives in SMEs need to know that their actions are designed to help them and the organisation grow by enhancing their skills, knowledge and experience. While it is easy to talk or write about how to balance the roles of leader and boss in an SME, in practice functions do not always fall into such organised departments.
Leadership in SMEs also means having a fluid and adaptable way of dealing with work processes and strategies in designing the growth of companies and agents (Abraham et al. 2015). A leader must know how and when he can best formulate, change or eliminate the suggested methods, tools and shapes to achieve results. Executives in SMEs must deliberately ensure that their activities are geared towards helping them and the association grow in terms of expertise, learning and experience (Dimitratos et al. 2016).

Recent leadership quality research has shown that successful modern leaders are not only intelligent, adaptable and determined, but they must also provide positive motivation to help the small business grow and develop followers as this cannot be done by one person alone.

There are a variety of tools that enable executives to expand their expertise and grow the organization in the right way. Think about how these tools can improve your leadership and take your small business to new heights. Many factors, including useful information, skills and knowledge, can help small and medium-sized enterprises enhance their workforce and thus their organization (Janda et al. 2013). Interaction is one of them. The more one talks to customers, the more it becomes clear that the following five topics affect most of these organizations. The ones we find most interesting are not the ones with highly technical advanced skills.

The demand for these five topics in our economy shows that employers face this reality: they need to develop their employees not only in terms of their business, but also in terms of skills that can be imparted. These five topics include personal branding, reducing stress levels at work, conducting effective meetings, presenting capabilities and influencing. By providing information about suppliers at different stages over time, the assessment can help understand how information affects small business network capital and how this affects the performance of their businesses.

The impact assessment aims to understand how information affects small business network capital, how it affects their businesses, and whether buyers choose suppliers based on personal characteristics (such as gender). The impact assessment was followed by negotiations with the government, funding banks, and other stakeholders. Business development involves a series of tasks and processes that generally aim to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. Goals include branding, expanding into markets, attracting new users, and awareness. However, the main function of business development is to use partners to sell to the right customers.

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2. Types And Profile Of Women Leaders: Charismatic Leaders
3. 5 Business Lessons from Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover
4. List of 165 Prominent Business Leaders of India
5. 100 Negative Impacts of Artificial Intelligence

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