THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOURS IN THE INTERNATIONALISATION PROCESS OF MNCS

Background -Today's international business environment has facilitated the internationalisation process for firms all around the world by the reduced barriers to international trade (Efrat and Shoham, 2012). An expansion across borders is desirable since it offers the possibility of future business activities and it can aid a company to reach superior performance (Cotae, 2013). There are numerous strategies to an internationalisation process and the decisions made by the top management demonstrates the relationship between leadership behaviour and internationalisation (Cotae, 2013; Schweizer, Vahlne and Johanson, 2010). Therefore, this study will investigate leaders in multiple firms during the various stages of the internationalisation process in order to discover both how and to what degree they influence the internationalisation within their organisations. Purpose- The purpose of this study is to explore what types of leadership behaviour influence the internationalisation process in MNCs and to examine specifically influential types of leadership behaviours in order to analyse the relationship between the behavioural and strategic differences in MNCs throughout the internationalisation process. Method- This study will use an exploratory approach by combining existing theoretical frameworks and empirical data. Empirical data was collected through a qualitative research method consisting of nine semi-structured interviews, then qualitative content analysis was applied. Conclusion– The results show that a medium influence through authentic leadership can be demonstrated and can also be revealed as successful based on the MNCs current international activities