Abstract | This paper examines the link between organizational learning and the development of marketing strategy in the context of a collectivist organizational culture. The work is based on an extensive literature review and the development of a number of propositions and involved a limited number of in-depth, personal interviews with senior managers in a Japanese electronics company and a South Korean electronics company based in the UK. The research findings suggest that in a collectivist organizational culture, senior managers ensure that the organizational learning concept is understood and that trust-based relationships are developed that result in mutuality. The concept of organizational learning is underpinned by the relationship marketing concept and, as a consequence, marketing staff are committed to providing a high level of customer service. By understanding better the role that organizational learning plays, it is possible to incentivize marketing personnel and get them to devise unique marketing solutions to recurring marketing problems. An in-depth appreciation of the operational commonalities and the differences between a global Japanese electronics company and a global South Korean electronics company will provide insights that allow managers based in organizations with an individualistic organizational culture to establish beneficial partnership arrangements with such organizations. |
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