Fish Can't See Water: How National Culture Can Make Or Break Your Corporate Strategy

Fish Can't See Water: How National Culture Can Make or Break Your Corporate Strategy

How national culture impacts organizational culture—andbusiness success

Using extensive case studies of successful global corporations,this book explores the impact of national culture on the corporatestrategy and its execution, and through this ultimately businesssuccess—or failure. It does not argue that different cultureslead to different business results, but that all cultures impactorganizations in ways both positive and negative, depending on thebusiness cycle, the particular business, and the particularstrategies being pursued. Depending on all of these factors,cultural dynamics can either enable or derail performance. Butrecognizing those cultural factors is difficult for businessleaders; like everyone else, they too can be blind to the cultureof which they are a part.

The book offers managers and leaders eight recommendations forrecognizing those cultural factors that negatively impactperformance, as well as those that can be harnessed to encouragesuperior performance. With real case studies from companies inAsia, Europe, and the United States, this book offers a trulyglobal approach to organizational culture.

• Offers a fresh approach to the effects of national culture onorganizational culture that is applicable to any country in anyregion
• Based on case studies of such companies as Toyota, Samsung,General Motors, Nokia, Walmart, Kone and British Leyland
• It describes the origins and nature of the most commoncorporate crisis and how culture impacts the response to such acrisis
• Ideal for managers, business leaders, and board members, aswell as business school students

A welcome response to the flat-Earth fad that argues we're allalike, this book offers a nuanced and practical view of culturaldifferentiators and how they can enable or derail businessperformance.