Routledge Handbook of Strategic Culture

1 Defining and Scoping Strategic Culture Promises, Challenges, and Conundrums

Kerry M. Kartchner

DOI: 10.4324/9781003010302-2

Culture as Culprit

When events go catastrophically wrong, culture is often the first thing to be blamed. If nations or their governments are involved, commissions will be formed to investigate and report, and invariably the culture of the liable organizations will be found at fault. If the catastrophe involves private enterprises, then stockholders and boards of directors will demand that outside firms or consultants audit, analyze, and assess, again often concluding that the business’s culture resulted in failure to understand the risks involved, or to adapt to changing market conditions, or to navigate cross-cultural ...