Organizational culture as differentiator in international retailing

Abstract

Much of the international retailing literature echoes major retailers' assertions that inimitable organizational cultures can create competitive advantage. However, the culture concept remains ill-defined and systematic international empirical analysis is lacking. Based on website analyses of nine international retailers, the paper investigates how organizations define their cultures, codify and transfer them into practice, and aim to homogenize them across borders. Although some evidence for organization-specific cultural aspirations is identified, findings suggest that retailers' cultures become homogenized within and between countries. This supports previous work on the existence of industry-specific macro cultures and challenges the resource-based view, which sees culture as a source of competitive advantage.

Keywords:

• international retailing
• human resource management
• organizational culture
• competitive advantage

Notes

1. Pure play retailers were not included.

2. These included the following sectors: food, clothing and footwear, games and toys, entertainment, furniture/home ware, medical/toiletries, mobile phones (retail), mixed retail, and Do-it-yourself.

3. For readability, web references are not added. All quotes are taken from the websites listed in the ‘References’.

4. Schein's cultural level 1 (artefacts) was not considered for the current research. Website analysis hence did not include photos, employee stories, etc.