National Culture, Corporate Culture and Economic Performance: An Interdisciplinary Synthesis and Implications for Internationalisation Strategy

Abstract

This chapter highlights the important role of the external — cultural — environment for company performance, nationally and internationally. The theoretical synthesis combines selected aspects from the well-articulated (economic) theory of the entrepreneur, and from recent developments in social psychology and sociology. It emphasises the different cultural values which exist between nations, and the fact that entrepreneurs may draw upon the general cultural values of their nation-state in order to increase performance in their organisations. The synthesis forms a suitable theoretical framework for suggesting specific propositions concerning the significance of national and corporate culture on the internationalisation-related strategic decision-making in the pursuit of firms’ economic performance. The chapter argues that harmonising corporate culture with both nation and industry-specific environmental factors promotes excellence in corporate performance. This, in turn, implies that a nation’s culture may be integral to the process of creating and developing a distinct competitive advantage for a culture’s domestic firm. MNEs will tend to reproduce significant features of their national cultures in their internal structuring and functioning.