Leadership Strategy for Small and Medium Enterprises
This literature review examines how research on boardroom dynamics at large publicly traded corporations — specifically the role of faultlines and heterogeneity in boards of directors — can be cross-purposed to inform leadership theory and practice in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Drawing primarily on Tuggle et al. (2010), the paper summarizes findings on how diversity, weak faultlines, and entrepreneurial discussion patterns relate to organizational adaptability. It then situates those findings within broader SME leadership research, offering practical recommendations around collaboration, age diversity, knowledge management, and human resources strategy. Finally, the paper identifies key organizational contingencies — including leadership attitudes and employee knowledge bases — that may facilitate or impede successful implementation of these leadership approaches.
- Introduction: Framing the cross-purposing approach to SME leadership
- Heterogeneity and Faultlines in Boardrooms: Summary of Tuggle et al. on boardroom diversity and entrepreneurial discussion
- Practical Applications for SME Leadership: Translating boardroom research into SME collaboration strategies
- Organizational Contingencies: Leadership attitudes and knowledge bases as implementation barriers
- Conclusion: Diversity and collaboration drive SME innovation and success
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper applies a genuinely novel cross-purposing approach — using boardroom-level corporate research to draw actionable lessons for small and medium enterprises — which gives the review a clear and distinctive analytical angle.
- Each section builds logically on the previous one: the core study is summarized, then contextualized with supporting research, then translated into concrete recommendations, and finally tested against real-world organizational contingencies.
- The paper balances theoretical grounding with practical specificity, moving from abstract concepts like faultlines and heterogeneity to concrete suggestions such as one-on-one staff meetings and age-diverse retention strategies.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective integrative synthesis: rather than reviewing multiple studies in parallel, it anchors the entire argument in one focal study (Tuggle et al., 2010) and uses additional sources to corroborate, extend, and qualify that study's findings. This focal-anchor technique is a disciplined way to construct a thematically coherent literature review rather than a loosely connected summary of sources.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a four-part structure: (1) an introduction that frames the problem and the review's novel approach; (2) a summary and analysis of the central study on boardroom faultlines and heterogeneity; (3) a practical applications section that translates findings into SME-level recommendations supported by secondary research; and (4) an organizational contingencies section that critically examines barriers to implementation, followed by a brief conclusion. This progression from theory to application to limitation is characteristic of applied management literature reviews at the graduate level.
Introduction
Leadership and management theories and strategies have proliferated at a rapid rate in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as organizations have grown larger and more complex and have faced pressures of a much faster pace of business. The demands made on leaders of business organizations — and the need for strong leadership in navigating the ever-more changeable waters of modern business — have grown along with businesses themselves, both in the degree to which leadership can affect operations and overall success and in the number of tasks and knowledge areas that leaders are expected to handle. Much of the diversification and increased scrutiny of leadership theories, processes, and practices can be attributed to the increased importance and complexity of leadership positions.
In something of an irony, however, the many different leadership theories and perspectives put forth in the modern era can make the task of leadership more complex and burdensome by offering too much information, some of which is mutually exclusive. Selecting a leadership theory — or a combination of leadership theories — with which to helm a company can be an onerous task in and of itself given the number to choose from, and different organizations and situations often call for different strategies and overarching theoretical frameworks. Grounding this task in relevant research does not necessarily make it easier, but it is the only way to ensure it is carried out properly and objectively.
The following literature review is constructed around the somewhat novel concept of cross-purposing leadership theories and research, attempting to see how an understanding of leadership at a large publicly traded corporation might inform leadership theories and practices for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A summary of one specific piece of research detailing boardroom decision-making and leadership is provided, then contextualized and further examined through the support of other research focusing on specific leadership styles and SME success. This analysis allows for practical recommendations to be made as to how leadership theories and practices might be properly implemented in small and medium enterprises, and for an identification of organizational contingencies that may either promote or inhibit the implementation of the identified leadership skills, traits, and practices. Through this, it is hoped that this review contributes to the efficacy of leadership and the clarity of leadership research available today.
References
Demmer, W., Vickery, S., & Calantone, R. (2011). Engendering resilience in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): a case study of Demmer Corporation. International Journal of Production Research, 49(18), 5395–413.
Gong, Y., Huang, J., & Farh, J. (2009). Employee learning orientation, transformational leadership, and employee creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 52(4), 765–78.
Kotter, J., & Schlesinger, L. (2008). Choosing strategies for change. Harvard Business Review.
Kunze, F., Boehm, S., & Bruch, H. (2011). Age diversity, age discrimination climate and performance consequences — a cross-organizational study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(2), 264–90.
Rubio, A., & Aragon, A. (2009). SMEs competitive behavior: Strategic resources and strategies. Management Research, 7(3), 171–90.
Tuggle, C., Schnatterly, K., & Johnson, R. (2010). Attention patterns in the boardroom: How board composition and processes affect discussion of entrepreneurial issues. Academy of Management Journal, 53(3), 550–71.
Von Krogh, G., Nonaka, I., & Rechsteiner, L. (2012). Leadership in organizational knowledge creation: A review and framework. Journal of Management Studies, 49(1), 240–77.
Weber, W., Unterrainer, C., & Schmid, B. (2009). The influence of organizational democracy on employees' socio-moral climate and prosocial behavioral orientations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(8), 1127–49.
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