Corporate Culture and Supply Chain Orientation: The Case in Manufacturing Firms in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Literature on supply chain management stresses the importance of establishment of a cultural orientation to guide decision making and problem solving both inside the firm and within the boundaries of supply chain prior to successful implementation of supply chain management. Literature also suggests that certain organizational cultures apparently enable firms to do and be things for employees, customers, suppliers, and others that could not be done by firms without these cultures. This study attempts to address the question of which type of culture would foster a Supply Chain Orientation (SCO) inside the firms directly involve in the supply chain. The major objectives of this study are to examine whether there is an association between the culture type and the degree of supply chain orientation and to identify which types of organizational culture would help fostering of a supply chain orientation. The study is descriptive one. The single cross sectional design was employed to collect data through a self administered questionnaire. Unit of analysis was the manufacturing firms, a sample of which was randomly selected from the registry of the Colombo Stock Exchange- 2007. Proxies were the production or production related managers of the business firms. The analysis shows that individual manufacturing firms contain some elements of more than one culture type. Thus, the study considers matters of degree rather than clear prototypes, Results show that a relationship exists between the types of corporate culture (Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy, and Market) and the degree of supply chain orientation and that the Market and Adhocracy cultures foster the high degree of supply chain orientation.