The Impact of Leadership on Dynamic Capabilities in Chinese Start-Ups

In China, start-ups have become a strong force promoting economic development and technology break through. Leadership is therefore critically important for these new ventures' dynamic capability (DC), or the ability to adapt to the changing environment while seeking for development. This study aims to examine the impact of leadership on dynamic capabilities in start-ups. This is achieved through understanding 1) the leadership attributes and roles of Chinese entrepreneurs and the challenges they face and 2) how their leadership influences their strategies to deal with the challenges and maintain development. The study used the work by Gupta, MacMillan and Surie (2004) as a theoretical guidance and categorized leadership into 5 roles (i.e., framing the challenge, path clearing, building commitment, absorbing uncertainty, and specifying limits), with each role comprising 3 to 4 attributes. A total of 15 entrepreneurs representing different industries and from different cities in China were selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. Findings suggested that framing the challenge was a most popular leadership role possessed by the entrepreneurs in the study. In addition, different leadership roles have varied degree of influence on start-ups' DC. Findings of this study have broad implications for theory, research, and practices. The use of the framework extended our understanding on the impact of leadership on dynamic capability among Chinese start-ups.