The Influence of Culture on Strategic Management and Its Processes

In the previous chapter, the core concepts of strategic management, as well as influencing factors that challenge the assumption that standardized strategic management is universally valid, have been presented. The influence of behavior on strategic management and, thus, ultimately, the impact of culture on strategic management are worth further analysis to receive a better understanding and enable multinational corporations to conduct efficient strategic management. To investigate the influence of cultural values on strategic management and its processes, this chapter is aimed at providing a summary of findings on the influence of culture on strategic management with a focus on long-term planning. It starts with a conceptualization of culture by defining culture and discussing different levels of culture as well as the Hofstede framework. It is then zooming into the cultural sensitivity of strategic management and providing an overview of the contemporary understanding of cultural influences before the section is concluded. The chapter is then narrowing down on the long-term planning area of the strategic management to introduce underlying concepts, methods, and tools before discussing potential causes of cultural sensitivity in the long-term planning process. The tool of scenario planning has been picked as the most suitable long-term planning tool for further analysis.