EFFECT OF LEADERSHIP ON BMI AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF SMES

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships between transformational leadership (TL), entre-preneurial leadership (EL), business model innovation (BMI) and competitive advantage, as well as the role of environmental uncertainty in these relationships. The importance of BMI and leadership style for the firms and the gaps identified in literature motivated the need for this paper. Previous literature has not fully explained in detail the antecedents of BMI or how BMI improves competitive advantage of organisations. Thus, an empirical model was used to analyse data gathered from a survey of 474 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from several sectors in Greece. The findings reveal the contribution of leadership styles on BMI, the direct contribution of TL and EL on competitive advantage, as well as the contribution of BMI in competitive advantage in all responding SMEs, those SMEs with low scores of business environmental uncertainty and those SMEs with high scores of business environmental uncertainty.Keywords: Transformational leadership; entrepreneurial leadership; business model innova-tion; competitive advantage.