What kind of leadership for newly founded enterprises?
A thesis debates the crucial aspect of startups’ organisation and management
New enterprises and therefore new perspectives, perhaps – as there is no guarantee that a new enterprise will be able to endure and, above all, to provide better quality than others. It is, after all, a matter of skill and entrepreneurship, a matter of leadership.
It is indeed around the relationships between leadership and new enterprises that Emem Akpanekong’s research work revolves, a thesis on the topic of business administration debated at the Liberty University, School of Business, Lynchburg (USA) last August.
The study takes its cue from an observation: startups perform a vital role in creating job opportunities and new markets, as well as in the economic development of a nation. It is however important to realise that these enterprises face several challenges, especially “at the initial stages because of the highly uncertain business environment.” Thus, as well as technical and organisational skills, these newly founded businesses also need the kind of leadership able to help them through their various development stages, from “infancy to adolescence and adulthood”.
In order to explore this topic, Akpanekong first tackles the theoretical aspects and then the practical ones, analysing a single qualitative case study comprising 17 founders and leaders of four startups.
From all this, the author identifies four main themes: the impact of leadership behaviour on a startup’s culture; the leadership approaches that drive a startup’s success; the development of leadership behaviours arising from a change in a startup’s business environment; the enhancement of organisational performance as driven by the development of leadership.
Emem Akpanekong’s thesis attempts to align theories and data concerning a complex theme, and thus takes us a step further in the understanding of that particular corporate culture that is typical of enterprises new to production and to the market.
Impact of leadership for startup companies
Emem Akpanekong
Thesis, Doctorate in Business Administration
Liberty University, School of Business, Lynchburg (USA)
A thesis debates the crucial aspect of startups’ organisation and management
New enterprises and therefore new perspectives, perhaps – as there is no guarantee that a new enterprise will be able to endure and, above all, to provide better quality than others. It is, after all, a matter of skill and entrepreneurship, a matter of leadership.
It is indeed around the relationships between leadership and new enterprises that Emem Akpanekong’s research work revolves, a thesis on the topic of business administration debated at the Liberty University, School of Business, Lynchburg (USA) last August.
The study takes its cue from an observation: startups perform a vital role in creating job opportunities and new markets, as well as in the economic development of a nation. It is however important to realise that these enterprises face several challenges, especially “at the initial stages because of the highly uncertain business environment.” Thus, as well as technical and organisational skills, these newly founded businesses also need the kind of leadership able to help them through their various development stages, from “infancy to adolescence and adulthood”.
In order to explore this topic, Akpanekong first tackles the theoretical aspects and then the practical ones, analysing a single qualitative case study comprising 17 founders and leaders of four startups.
From all this, the author identifies four main themes: the impact of leadership behaviour on a startup’s culture; the leadership approaches that drive a startup’s success; the development of leadership behaviours arising from a change in a startup’s business environment; the enhancement of organisational performance as driven by the development of leadership.
Emem Akpanekong’s thesis attempts to align theories and data concerning a complex theme, and thus takes us a step further in the understanding of that particular corporate culture that is typical of enterprises new to production and to the market.
Impact of leadership for startup companies
Emem Akpanekong
Thesis, Doctorate in Business Administration
Liberty University, School of Business, Lynchburg (USA)