SHARE  

Objective and main results

This article examines how e-leadership capabilities in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) drive successful alignment between business strategy and digital technology.

Main findings:

• Four e-leadership capabilities domains are critical to achieve alignment between business and IT strategy: Strategy execution alignment, Technology transformation alignment, Competitive potential alignment, and Service-level alignment.
• The authors describe 6 e-leadership qualities that support the different domains of alignment. These are agile leadership, hybrid skill development, architectural view, digital entrepreneurship, value creator, and value protector.

Summary of practical implications

The authors identify important e-leadership qualities and provide a diagnostic tool. Practitioners will benefit because the proposed model enables leaders to effectively establish business and digital strategies.

The e-leadership model enables SME decision makers to exercise effective leadership by creating productive alignment between business strategy and digital technology.

SMEs should emphasize agile leadership (agile culture, strategy, and pro-activeness) to quickly execute business strategy linked with digital technologies. Architectural view and digital entrepreneurship are also qualities that should be emphasized.

---

Tags

Small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises