Culture vs strategy: which to precede, which to align?

Abstract

Purpose Appreciation of the utility of strategy and the vitality of the culture in an organization can realize the development of a new culture-centric strategic business model (SBM). Culture beats, eats or trumps strategy is a legitimate and powerful argument often thrown to the air. The purpose of this paper is to un-code the relevance of this argument and to decode its significance. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper and builds on prior conceptual and empirical management research related to strategy and organizational culture. The approach is unbiased toward either strategy or culture. Findings The conclusion arrived at is that, in general, strategy must precede culture and culture must be aligned. In specific instances of governance, inner workings of a military organization, cross-cultural context of negotiations, creative advertising and management of change culture may predominate in tactics. Furthermore, with a strategy gone astray, or in the instance of a floundering business or start-up venture, culture must shift to first gear, lead the requisite goal and path development, and strategy must be aligned in the transition. A strategy–culture fit supports a sustained competitive advantage by virtue of a firm’s unique culture proposition (UCP). Research limitations/implications The development of a culture-centric SBM will need to be tested by empirical research. The UCP will also need to be researched further. Practical implications The conclusion that strategy should generally precede culture will guide firms from not letting their organizational culture from undermining the success of major shifts in strategic goals and business model positioning. Originality/value The conceptual arguments will help leaders and managers from marginalizing the value of strategy. However, managers will also be directed toward paying attention to the damaging consequences of ignoring culture. Furthermore, managers will be able to appreciate that culture must not drive strategy, except in specific strategic decision-making contexts.