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TÌM HIỂU CÁC NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƢỚNG TỚI LỰA CHỌN PHONG CÁCH ÃNH ĐẠO TRONG CÁC DOANH NGHIỆP VỪA VÀ NHỎ NGHIÊN CỨU ĐIỂN HÌNH TẠI CÁC DOANH NGHIỆP VỪA VÀ NHỎ VIỆT NAM TS Lê Ti n Đạt Trường Đại học Thương mại TÓM TẮT Phong cách lãnh đạo hành vi đặc trưng mà người lãnh đạo lựa chọn để tác động đến nhân viên mình, cách thức mà người lãnh đạo đưa dẫn cho cấp dưới, tạo động lực thúc đẩy họ hoàn thành mục tiêu đề Lãnh đạo nói chung phong cách lãnh đạo nói riêng ảnh hưởng lớn đến lịng trung thành, tin tưởng, hài lòng cam kết người lao động doanh nghiệp, từ ảnh hưởng đến phát triển bền vững doanh nghiệp Tuy nhiên, để lựa chọn phong cách lãnh đạo phù hợp, nhà quản lý buộc phải xem xét loạt yếu tố Để điều tra nhận thức nhà quản lý doanh nghiệp vừa nhỏ (DNVVN) yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến việc lựa chọn phong cách lãnh đạo phù hợp, 51 nhà quản lý DNVVN đến từ lĩnh vực kinh doanh khác đồng ý tham gia vấn cá nhân Dựa điều tra vậy, hàm ý việc lựa chọn thích hợp phong cách lãnh đạo khác việc xem xét yếu tố ảnh hưởng đưa Bài báo kỳ vọng hữu ích cho nhà quản lý DNVVN, sở đào tạo / tư vấn việc hỗ trợ nhà quản lý DNVVN Việt Nam nâng cao hiệu lãnh đạo hoạt động doanh nghiệp Bài báo đóng góp vào phát triển lý thuyết lãnh đạo nước phát triển Việt Nam Từ khóa: Lãnh đạo, phong cách lãnh đạo, yếu tố ảnh hưởng, DNVVN Việt Nam INVESTIGATING FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SELECTION OF LEADERSHIP STYLES IN SMES AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN VIETNAM ABSTRACT Leadership styles are a type of behavior that a leader chooses to impact on his employees, the way that the leader provides instructions to subordinates, creates motivations for them to fulfill the set-forth goals Leadership in general and the effective use of leadership styles in particular can greatly affect the loyalty, trusts, satisfaction and commitments of employees to enterprises, thereby influencing the sustainable development of enterprises However, to choose the right leadership style, managers are required to considered a range of factors To investigate the perceptions of SME managers with regard to influential factors to the selection of appropriate leadership styles, 51 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) managers coming from various business fields agreed to join individual interviews Based on such investigation, implications on the proper selection of various leaderships in the consideration of influential factors are provided The paper is expected to be useful for SME managers, training/consulting institutions in assisting Vietnamese SME managers to improve leadership efficiency and enterprise performance The paper also makes contribution to the body of knowledge with regard to leadership in developing countries such as Vietnam Key words: Leadership, leadership styles, influential factors, Vietnamese SMEs 59 INTRODUCTION Leadership style has strong impact to the sustainable development of SMEs Because of the origin, the nature and the size of the SMEs, leaders in SMEs often capture, overshadow and oversee almost every aspect of business However, in many SMEs, the poor management skills and professions of leaders negatively affect the survival and development of SMEs Because of this, SMEs need to have a leader with the most suitable leadership style for the growth of enterprises, particularly for the performance and attitudes to work of employees In organizations, the concept of sustainability has now been viewed as a strategy for longterm business survival and success (Mccann, 2010) Approaching and gaining sustainability allow enterprises to achieve a competitive advantage and continual performance improvement (Slankis 2006) Apart from the general norm of sustainability, the term of sustainable leadership style has also received the attention of scholars and practitioners Accordingly, leaders are required to become innovation managers whose substantial leadership competences assist them to lead the organization towards long-term survival and development By doing so, he or she may create a sustainable innovation and/or a sustainable leadership style Studies reflected that to create sustainable innovation process, and then, a sustainable organization, the leaders need to consider to select the proper one which help them to become charismatic, instrumental, strategic or interactive leaders (Bossink 2007) Selecting the leadership style suited to the characteristics of business, employers and employees for the sustainable development of organization is essential However, how to choose the right one - among three main leadership styles, namely autocratic style, democratic style and laissez-fair style - is the question In this paper, the answer for this question is examined through the discussion of SME managers with regard to the factors affecting the selection of appropriate leadership styles LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Leadership Styles and the Significance of Leadership Styles A strong development period of research on leadership styles with various definitions and approaches has been witnessed in the last decade of the 20 th century According to Mayowa (2009), leadership styles can be understood as a pattern of behavior that a leader selects to impact on the behavior of employees This is the way a leader encourages and instructs his subordinates to accomplish the goals that have been set before Murray Johannsen (2017) added that leadership styles are a collection of behavior that a leader actively chooses to utilize in each specific circumstance When the circumstances change, leadership styles change accordingly When it comes to the significance of leadership styles, Fang, Chang and Chen (2009) emphasizes that leadership styles have remarkable impacts on satisfaction, trust and loyalty of employees with enterprises and on the entire operational performance of enterprises as well Leadership styles are closely linked to work performance of each employee in general, and to the creativity at work in particular (Olawale 2013) DuBrin (2001) believes that personal features stemming from the characteristics of leaders can be reflected in their leadership styles All in all, as being considered as the choice of leaders for their behavior and models of managing business, leadership styles play a decisive role in operational patterns and business performance of enterprises 60 2.2 Selecting the Right Leadership Styles In the research of Kurt Lewin et al (1939), which considered as the pioneer study on leadership styles, based on the decision-making, leadership styles are classified into main types of autocratic style, democratic and laissez-fair style Accordingly, in the autocratic leadership style, leaders hold absolute decision-making power while employees are hardly involved in the decision-making process Leaders mostly assign work and instruct their subordinates on how to the work without listening to their opinions or feedback In the democratic leadership style, a board of leaders made up one or more employees are allowed to participate in the decision-making, thereby being able to contribute their opinions to the enterprise‟s business affairs but it is the leader who makes the final decision In the leadership style called laissez-faire style, the leader‟s involvement in the decision-making process is minimal Although the leader is still the person who takes responsibility for the outcome, his job is just to encourage employees to make their own decisions Choosing a leadership style that fits the specific business environment, working conditions, development phases of the company and personalities of leaders and followers can help the company improve its performance But the important question is what the right choice is There seems to be no definite answer Autocratic leadership has been subject to declining popularity in recent years when employees‟ awareness has become better and the job market grows more competitive to not only employees but employers as well But even laissez-faire - the style that is believed to raise loyalty and commitments of subordinates - cannot bring the expected efficiency to businesses In a study on leadership style efficiency, Koech & Namusonge (2012) concluded that laissezfaire is the leadership style that brings the lowest capacity The researchers suggested that leaders should not apply this style but get more involved in supervising, guiding and becoming a good example for subordinates to follow, they should constantly be present to encourage, inspire and invoke followers‟ initiatives and creativity, to care for employees individually so that leaders can call for their positive contributions to the common goals of the organization For his part, Eba (2016) believed that there is no optimal leadership style, even the popular democratic way, and the selection of an appropriate leadership style totally depends on specific circumstances A suitable leadership style is the one which enables leaders to reach the goals, receive the supports and enhance the solidarity in the company while take personal care of individuals and drive them towards higher organization‟s business performance According to Robbins (2013), today leaders tend to manage their companies by empowering their employees Empowering means increasing decision-making power of employees Employees can make decisions concerning their daily work; for instance, they develop budget plans, arrange workload, control inventories, control quality and participate in many aspects which used to be considered as tasks of managers A famous example is when the Comprehensive System Service Group in Columbus, Georgia decided to let their employees take part in the process of designing their new office complex The importance of employees to the company is shown on each brick used to build the road along Chattahoochee river - each brick there has the name of one employee in the company 61 More and more companies choose to empower their employees One reason is the need to make quick decisions by members who have the best knowledge and understanding of the specific work at basic levels If companies wish to compete successfully in a dynamic global business environment, they should be able to make immediate decisions and cope up with changes rapidly Another reason is the downsizing of organizational scale of companies in the past decades, this has given leaders larger dimension of management To cope up with increasing workload, leaders have to empower employees lthough empowerment is not a „cure-all remedy‟, it is clear that when employees have knowledge, skills and experience, they will become more active and accountable, and when they seek autonomy and internal control, empowerment can bring enormous benefits RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Objective Based on the literature with regard to leadership styles, this study aims to examine the factors affecting the leadership style selection in Vietnamese SMEs, from the viewpoints of SME managers Therefore, the perceptions of Vietnamese SME managers with regard to influential factors of leadership styles choice were explored Based on such investigation, the implications related to the proper application of leadership styles in accordance to influential factors are provided Research outputs are expected to be beneficial to SME managers, consulting and training institutions in the selection of suitable leadership styles with the aim of improving the management performance for the sustainable development of Vietnamese SMEs The following main research question has been investigated and guides this study: What are the perception of Vietnamese SME managers with regard to factors affecting the selection of appropriate leadership styles in Vietnamese SMEs? 3.2 Data Collection In studies where the perceptions of participants are investigated, the qualitative interview technique is generally used (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012) In this study, to study the factors affecting the selection of appropriate leadership styles in Vietnamese SMEs, semi-structured interviews assist the researcher in gaining a deeper understanding on such factors when SME managers are asked to explain, or add comments based on their answers Besides, the research has opportunities to develop qualitative data in both breadth and depth due to numerous experience shared by SME managers during their interviews (Bryman & Bell 2011; Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill 2009) Individual interviews with the participation of 51 SME managers, including 40 male managers (accounting for 78.43%) and 11 female managers (accounting for 18.5%) were conducted These managers operate in various business fields such as construction, vocational education, nutritional food, estate business Interviews were recorded by electronic recorders and last for approximately 45 to 60 minutes Interviews were carried out at offices of SME managers, which are considered convenient to interviewees The interview protocol was used in almost interviews to seek the opinions of different participants on common issues In such protocol, a list of questions was developed to investigate perceptions of SME managers with regard to the application of the democratic leadership style 62 3.3 Data Analysis To systemize the data in this study, the step-by-step qualitative data analysis procedure suggested by Creswell (2014) was used In such process, the researcher was required to organize the data, conduct a preliminary read-through of the databases, code and organize themes, and organize the data in a format for interpretation The qualitative QSR support software Nvivo was used in the process of data analysis The main themes and sub-themes are used as the “code” of Nvivo The research results are presented in a descriptive manner, based on the main topics, sub-topics, examples, multi-dimensional views from the interviewees Descriptive topics are mainly based on the content analyzed from the interviews In addition, examples and comments by members are also cited directly to help the readers get the "feel" contained in the responses as well as the "lively" in actual business situations, adding to the persuasiveness of qualitative research RESEARCH RESULTS When selecting the right leadership styles, many factors needs to be taken into account such as the development phases of enterprises, the personalities of employees, the experiences of the leaders The following section reveals the perceptions of Vietnamese SME managers towards such important factors Enterprise Characteristics When referring to the influence of business characteristics on leadership style selection of managers, many Vietnamese SME managers interviewed in this study emphasized the factor of business areas in which SMEs operates Accordingly, one SME managers stressed “the leader will choose the style suitable for his career, and also the characteristics of the work” (M_01) One manager offered an example: "If a private company specializes in creating and providing ideas and solutions, the leaders should be creative, using laissez-faire style rather than the two other styles Conversely, if the business sector is not closely related to creativity, does not require new ideas, the laissez-faire or democratic styles are not strongly required” (M_18) Another SME manager took the same view by saying “the more creativity that the companies need, the more comfort they have to create for employees, contrary to the business areas requiring certainty, where the process needs a more rigid style used to ensure the achievements of results” (M_42) Besides the business sector, from the view of Vietnamese SME managers in this study, the size of enterprises also affects the selection of leadership styles of the leaders In general, in a small company where the number of employees is small, the manager may utilize the democratic leadership style to manage as well as to direct their subordinates However, when the firm-size increases, the managers find hard to cover and control everything happened in the company At that time, the autocratic leadership style may help the managers, especially the top-level managers, to empower and focus on the key activities in the company In other words, the managers may use democratic style in few cases, and utilize autocratic or laissez-faire in other circumstances One manager emphasized: “The bigger the firm-size is, the more flexible the leadership style is, due to the growth in the number of departments” (M_42) In addition, Vietnamese SME managers in this research also indicated that the leadership styles may also be influenced by other factors related to the specific characteristics of the enterprise, 63 such as the level of job pressure, the conflicts that may arise in the enterprise, the complexity of tasks, or financial and technological capabilities of enterprises Development Phases of Enterprises In this study, the SME managers also emphasized the impacts of the business development phases on the selection of suitable leadership styles Accordingly, one SME manager gave a detailed explanation “the development journey of the company is divided into various stages, including the stage of formation, the stage of stability, and the stage of development After the stages of formation and stability, as the size of the business is expanded, the leaders should create an atmosphere of selfreliance, reduce tension and create cohesion among members, especially among the leaders in the enterprise In other words, when self-control and self-empowerment from company members elevate, the styles of democracy and freedom can be a reasonable choice” (M_02) Characteristics, Capabilities, Personalities of Employees in Enterprises According to the perceptions the Vietnamese SME managers in this study, the selection of leadership styles is also determined by the staff capacity Employee characteristics such as working experience, job competency, job responsibilities, conceptual skills, and also their abilities in developing network and co-operating with other staff and managers are also factors the leaders consider when selecting the appropriate leadership styles One SME manager stressed “choosing the proper leadership style belongs to whether our employees are experienced, responsible persons or the new ones who need a lot of guidance and directions” (M_38) Another SME manager added “When choosing the right leadership styles, we should consider the relationship among employees to see if they are united or have conflicts In the solidarity working environment, the leader may let employees to work well with each other, change working activities into routines, and thus, the leader doesn‟t need to provide too much of guidance or interference” (M_19) According to many Vietnamese SME managers in this study, the autocratic leadership style is often applied to new employees At that time, the leader becomes a competent and enthusiastic instructor, and new employees are motivated to learn more skills and develop themselves On the other hand, democratic leadership style is often applied to a team whose members are skilled staff Employees know their jobs and are aware of themselves as part of the team Laissez-faire style is often used in cases where the leader owns better qualified employees The leader cannot cover everything and employees should have full rights and responsibilities to make decisions for their tasks This may also allow the leader to focus on improving their management productivity Personalities, Experiences, Characteristics of Leaders As shared by many SME managers in this study, the selection of leadership styles is influenced by the factors related to the leader First and foremost, it is the characteristics of the leader, as a SME manager distinguished: "Gentle and calm managers will have a different leadership style from those who are hot-tempered" (M_24) From the view of a number of SME managers in this research, the personalities of the leader will be a factor affecting their orientations towards a suitable leadership style One SME manager analyzed “Normally, the leader who is confident, decisive, determined, and highly responsible is prone to choose the autocratic leadership style This kind of leaders is often difficult and patriarchal By contrast, the leader who is willing to listen to employees‟ opinion, respect and want to promote creativity of 64 employees tends towards democracy” (M_46) Another SME manager added “The leader who prefers freedom and comfort tends to select laissez-faire style However, the leadership style may be adjusted in the process the leader makes efforts to seek a suitable leadership style” (M_18) Furthermore, the abilities of the leader, his understanding of the job he manages, as well as his management experience, training and working history were also perceived to affect the selection of leadership styles One SME manager stressed “The leader‟s management capacity influences the way he sets goals, develops strategies, selects the right leadership style to construct his personal prestige” (M_46) Especially, as shared by some SME managers in this study, the lessons learned, especially management failures will make the leader aware of the need to change the management methods, thereby selecting a leadership styles appropriate to himself, his employees and also his organization to ensure management efficiency For example, the autocratic style used had made the working environment stressful, resulting in working performance reduction, then the leader would adjust his managerial behaviors In addition, other factors related to the leaders themselves are claimed to affect the leadership styles perceived by Vietnamese SME managers, such as the Emotional Quotient (EQ) (in particular the abilities to identify, understand and successfully manage the emotions of the leaders and subordinates - this is the foundation for the development of other skills); the listening and sharing skills, the abilities to manage both people and work, the leadership motivations and experience; and also the network of the leaders Following is the table summarizing perceptions of Vietnamese with regard to factors influencing the selection of leadership styles in SMEs Table 1: Factors influencing the selection of leadership styles in SMEs perceived by Vietnamese SME managers Enterprise characteristics Business fields/sectors The firm size The level of job pressure, the conflicts that may arise, the complexity of the tasks, the financial and technological capabilities of enterprises Organizational development Phases The formation stage The stability stage Employee Characteristics Working experience, job competency, job responsibilities, conceptual skills, and other employees’ abilities in developing network and co-operating with other staff and managers Leader Characteristics Leader’s personalities The abilities to master the job, management experiences, training and working history of leaders The lessons learn and management failures in the past The EQ, the listening and sharing skills, the abilities to manage both people and work, the leadership motivations and experience; the networks of the leaders Source: Author 65 IMPLICATIONS As can be seen from the research findings, the appropriate selection of leadership style should match with various factors related to business development phases, business activities, job features, leader characteristics and employee qualities When it comes to the factor of business development phase, in the start-up phase, the autocratic can be used In the stable phase and growth phase, the democratic and laissez-faire should be respectively used Regarding the business activity, when the SME has the only one leader and operates in manufacturing sector, the autocratic style seems to be suitable For SMEs operating in stable sectors and sectors which require innovation and creativity, the democratic and laissezfaire should be considered In terms of job features, when the leader has no time and needs to make urgent decision, for job which requires accuracy and promptness, at the beginning of working process, when reestablishing business activities and putting pressure on employees, the autocratic leadership style should be used Meanwhile, for jobs involving collecting data and information, when establishing business tactics or working process, when making important decisions to the benefit of many people or when managerial problems arise in the enterprise, SME leader should utilize democratic style For work which could connect between responsibilities and benefits, work which is hard to manage process, for remote management and when the leader can control the risks, the laissez faire could be used Regarding the employee qualities, when working with new employees, those who lack skills and unqualified and who are stubborn, leaders should use autocratic leadership style However, employees with high responsibilities and concentration at work, the democratic seems to be appropriate Meanwhile, the laissez-faire style can be considered when working with employees with high working capacity and good creativity and those with high responsibility, concentration at work and want to be listened to Finally, as far as leader characteristics are concerned, leaders who have the capacity and knowledge of the work, senior leaders who are the one comprehensively know about their task, and leaders who are decisive may be suitable to the autocratic leadership style New leaders and leaders seeking consensus and higher effectiveness when implementing work tend to use democratic leadership style For leaders who can allocate and assign work effectively, who not have experience and expertise knowledge and who are the co-founders of the enterprise, they may think of using laissez-faire leaders style Finally, regarding the employee qualities, when working with new employees, those who lack skills and unqualified and who are stubborn, leaders should use autocratic leadership style However, employees with high responsibilities and concentration at work, the democratic seems to be appropriate Meanwhile, the laissez-faire style can be considered when working with employees with high working capacity and good creativity and those with high responsibility, concentration at work and want to be listened to As can be seen from the paper, the context of Vietnam and also the size of enterprises in which managers in this study operate somewhat affect the selection of leadership style Accordingly, in Vietnamese culture, the power distance (one dimension in the model of Hofstede 66 (1987) is often great The role of the leader, particularly his or her characteristics such as personalities, management abilities have significant influence on the leadership style he or she chooses, and then to the individual and organizational performance Furthermore, in SMEs, the relationship between the leaders and followers is normally personal and direct Therefore, the employees‟ features as well as their connection with other staff and managers should also be taken into account when selecting proper leadership style As implied above, the selection of leadership style should be put in the consideration of factors such as business development phases, business activity, job features, leader characteristics, and employee qualities However, in many cases, using only one leadership style is not likely to bring the best effect for the business Each leadership style can only be suitable for each stage of the company's development, or each leadership style works only with some departments in the company Besides, it is not compulsory to use the same leadership style for the whole company The autocratic style can be used for one department while the democratic style should be used for other departments in the same company CONCLUSION The paper has provided the discussion on the factors influencing the selection of leadership style in Vietnamese SMEs The literature on the significance of leadership styles and the right selection of leadership styles was firstly reviewed The analysis on the qualitative data with 51 SME managers was then provided, which is the foundation for the implications on the proper choice of leadership styles in accordance with influential factors in SMEs The paper has both practical contribution in enhancing the management effectiveness of enterprises and theoretical contribution in examining the selection of leadership style in developing countries such as Vietnam REFERENCES BOSSINK, B 2007, „Leadership for sustainable innovation‟, International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development, 29 August, Vol 6, No 2, pp.135-149, doi: 10.1386/ijtm.6.2.135_1 BRYMAN, A & BELL, E 2011, Business Research Methods, 3rdedn., Oxford University Press, USA CRESWELL, JW 2014, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Method Approaches, 4th edn., SAGE Thousand Oaks Calif DUBRIN, AJ 2001, 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https://www.legacee.com/skills-and-expertise/transformational_leadership leadership, 10 M YOW 2009, „The Influence of Leadership Style, Organizational Justice and Human Capital Development on Employee Commitment in University Libraries in South-West, Nigeria‟, Library Philosophy & Practice (e-journal) http:// digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac 11 MCCANN, J 2010, „Defining sustainable leadership‟, Int J Sustainable Strategic Management, Vol 2, No 2, 2010 12 OLAWALE, T 2013, Leadership Style: Impact on employee, Thesis, Lahti University of Applied Sciences 13 ROBBINS, 2013, Management, 12th Edition, Pearson, ISBN 10: 0133043606 14 SAUNDERS, M, LEWIS, P & THORHILL, A 2012, Research methods for business students, 6thedn., Pearson, Harlow, England 15 SL NKIS, E 2006, „Sustainable thinking, sustainable leadership-the new E.Q.‟, Leadership, available at http://www.rayberndtson.ca/fileadmin/assets/canada/Documents/PDFs/Sustain Thinking.pdf LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Code Gender Position Business fields M_01 Male Director Construction consulting M_02 Male Director Medical equipment business M_03 Male Director Construction M_04 Female Sales Head Communication service M_05 Male Deputy Director Real estate business M_06 Male Deputy Director Warehouse, transportation - freight forwarding Services M_07 Male Director Software, web design, hardware, computer programming Services M_08 Male Deputy Director Producing construction materials from clay M_09 Male Director Comprehensive Consultancies on Security and system integration M_10 Male Director Producing and distributing electricity, gas, hot water, steam and air-conditioning M_11 Male Sales Head Food Wholesaler 68 Code Gender Position Business fields M_12 Male Director Mining M_13 Male Director Wholesale of machines, equipment and spare parts M_14 Male Chair Architecture and technical consulting M_15 Male Director Industrial equipment distribution M_16 Female Sales Head Nutritional foods M_17 Male Agricultural product manufacturing Director M_18 Female Deputy Director Machine manufacturing M_19 Male Deputy Director Construction equipment supplier M_20 Male Director Equipment wholesaler M_21 Male Deputy Director Fresh concrete supplier M_22 Female Director Producing cement, lime and plaster M_23 Female Deputy Director Education M_24 Male Director Metal product manufacturing M_25 Male Deputy Director Auto Agencies M_26 Male Sales Deputy Head Digital television service M_27 Male Sales Head Producing paint M_28 Male Director Producing products from plastic M_29 Male Deputy Director Civil engineering construction M_30 Male Director Commerce M_31 Female Director Producing shoes M_32 Male Short-stay services Director M_33 Female Sales Head Education M_34 Female Deputy Director Producing packaging from paper and paperboard M_35 Male Urban investment and development Director M_36 Female Director Paper Manufacturing M_37 Male Website design & promotion services Director M_38 Female Director English Education M_39 Male Education HR Director M_40 Female Sales Head Wholesale of computers, peripheral equipment and software M_41 Male Director Mobile Marketing M_42 Male Deputy Director Education - Training - Human resources 69 Code Gender Position Business fields M_43 Male Director Organic food supplier M_44 Male Director Manufacturing, trading, importing and exporting Packaging M_45 Male Sales Head Transport Service M_46 Male Director Producing products from wood, bamboo M_47 Male Director Architectural and related technical consultancy M_48 Male Director Provide products and services related to computers, equipment and components M_49 Male Director Food wholesalers M_50 Male Director Manufacturing all kinds of plastic molds, components, rolling door equipment M_51 Male Director Website Design & Advertising 70 ... factors affecting the leadership style selection in Vietnamese SMEs, from the viewpoints of SME managers Therefore, the perceptions of Vietnamese SME managers with regard to influential factors... the sustainable development of Vietnamese SMEs The following main research question has been investigated and guides this study: What are the perception of Vietnamese SME managers with regard to... Vietnamese SME managers towards such important factors Enterprise Characteristics When referring to the influence of business characteristics on leadership style selection of managers, many Vietnamese