The Impact of Ambidextrous Leadership on the Internationalization of Emerging-Market Firms: The Case of India

Ambidextrous leadership is a key factor in the success of emerging market firms’ venturing into advanced economies. Although the definition of ambidextrous leadership is universal, its operationalization is culturally contingent. This conceptual paper examines Indian companies, increasingly recognized for their ambidexterity, and aims to explain this phenomenon by using Indian cultural dimensions. Five propositions relating to charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and Indian ambidextrous leadership are developed. We show that the seven cultural variables characterizing Indian ambidextrous leadership (nurturant, personal touch, expertise, simple living and high thinking, loyalty, self-sacrifice, and the giving model of motivation) reinforce the recent successful internationalization by Indian companies.