Thoughts on Business Leadership in Emerging Markets: A Side Effect of Economic Colonialism or Simply Poor Management?
The strategic function of a top business leader, with its vision-forming, persuading, and control abilities, spans much of what has been traditionally viewed as the fi eld of leadership research. While some leaders speak or write about leadership without having led many businesses, others who have led lack the capacity for refl ection which is necessary to explain what it is that they do. Yet, most leaders seem to have something to say, and they fi nd eager listeners. Are MBA candidates being misled by the business press and thus are unable to tell a real leader from a fraud? Or is it that those we call business leaders today are only fi gureheads propelled by those toiling beneath them? This commentary focuses on thoughts centered on the rim of contention: business leadership in Brazil.
Introduction
The strategic function of a top business leader, with its vision-forming, persuading, and control abilities, spans much of what has been traditionally viewed as the field of leadership research. While far from exhausted, the drift toward studying the rest of the organization and its environment has been both substantial and refreshing. Nonetheless, there is a strategy-forming process that remains mostly in the realm of top corporate leadership, which has been the focus of some attention within the last decade.1 Interestingly enough, the role of succession remains largely within top management, which brings up the question of an organization’s capacity to learn from its environment. There seems to be no barriers to entry into the business leadership literature arena. While some leaders speak or write about leadership without having led many businesses, others who have led lack the capacity for reflection which is necessary to explain what it is that they do. Yet, most leaders seem to have something to say, and they find eager listeners. Because publishers know there is a seller’s market in leadership books, they go so far as to resurrect authors long dead for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. In fact, business leadership is one of the most prolific areas within management literature. What follows are my thoughts focused on the rim of the contention: business leadership in Brazil. I chose to explore this topic because many of my graduate MBA students barely have any notion of what a true business leader is. When asked to name a few leaders I expected to hear the names of Juan Domingo Perón, for Argentina, and Getúlio Vargas, for Brazil, founders of some of the region’s largest and most prominent businesses. Alternatively, I would have expected my students to mention Casimiro Montenegro, who founded the Brazilian Aeronautical Technology Institute to lay the foundations of a healthy Brazilian aeronautical industry and helped to midwife Embraer, a world leader in midsized jet planes.
Featured article by Alfredo Behrens in Thunderbird International Business Review
Vol. 55, No. 2 March/April 2013, pp 228-234. DOI: 10.1002/tie.21537
Vol. 55, No. 2 March/April 2013, pp 228-234. DOI: 10.1002/tie.21537
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