THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL, CORPORATE AND PROFESSIONAL CULTURES ON INNOVATION: GERMAN AND DUTCH FIRMS COMPARED

Jan Ulijn, Arie Nagel and Wee Liang Tan
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Jan Ulijn: Jean Monnet Chair of Euromanagement, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands;
Arie Nagel: Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Wee Liang Tan: Singapore Management University, Singapore

Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), 2001, vol. 09, issue 01, 21-52

Abstract: Innovation literature advocates the transition from a technological orientation to market orientation on the part of innovator and entrepreneur. However, the transition requires a change in mindset on the part of these innovation agents, who may be affected by their national contexts. This paper reports a study is to example factors that account for a different transition from a Technological Orientation (TO) towards a Market Orientation (MO) and the impact of national cultures. To analyse possible intercultural differences, the study involved two independent samples from Germany and the Netherlands.The study found that the orientation to versus MO of the Dutch engineer is not different from that of the German engineer, probably because of a common professional culture (PC), which is different from an MO. The transition from technological orientation towards market orientation occurred earlier for the Dutch engineers than for the German engineers. However German engineers demonstrated less MO than Dutch firms. A plausible reason for this is that the strong feminine values of Dutch national and corporate culture (NC and CC, Hofstede, 1980a and b and 1991) might lead more easily to a customer orientation (Market Pull) than the more masculine German values keeping a strong technological base. In sum, firms might consider carefully an optimal CC x PC interaction instead of NC-differences to reach effective technological innovation in the global market.

Date: 2001
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DOI: 10.1142/S0218495801000043

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