Organisations that create a unique culture instead of dwelling on their strategy hold a distinct advantage over their competitors, business guru and media personality René Carayol told HR professionals at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development conference.
"Over the past year, every company I have worked with has begun to understand that culture will always eat strategy's lunch," Mr Carayol said. "It's a company's culture that holds the power.
Mr Carayol, a former PepsiCo director, has advised the British prime minister's strategy unit, the British Home Office and McKinsey & Co and was awarded an MBE in 2004 for his contribution to the business community.
He also presented the BBC programme Pay Off Your Mortgage in Two Years and the critically acclaimed Channel 4 documentary on the challenges faced by Lord Stevens at the helm of the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Carayol illustrated the power that corporate culture can have on a company's consumers and shareholders by recalling the days when sportswear giant Nike was a poster child for sweatshop scandals in Asia.
"Nike's share price fell - why? Because people voted with their feet. This forced Nike to have the best working conditions in Pakistan now."
Companies that recognised the importance of national culture would always win over consumers, Mr Carayol said. He gave the example of his stint at PepsiCo in the Middle East, where the world's number two cola brand seemed to be losing a battle against incumbent Coca-Cola Co.
"In the Middle East, we had a 3 per cent market share against Coke's 95 per cent share," he said. "Every six months, Coke does a strategic review and in one review decided to open a bottling plant in Tel Aviv. Arabs stopped buying Coke and, almost overnight, our market share went to 95 per cent from 3 per cent.
"Coke then decided to close the bottling plant but we were the leading brand and Coke never got its share back in the Middle East.
"We didn't fight by strategy but by culture. You have to ask yourselves if you are the process junkies or the steward of culture."
Developing and honing an organisation's culture can help give HR directors a seat at the boardroom table and contribute more to the decision making process, Mr Carayol said.
"To answer what do you stand for, you have to ask 'what are we great at?'," he said. "Do you care about the economy, the environment? The HR team should be guiding the company on what the values are."
However, Nigel Risner, another British television presenter and author who advises some of the world's top executives, disagreed vehemently with Mr Carayol.
"There is no such thing as organisational culture," he told the conference. "It's the people in the organisation who have culture. People change but organisations don't."
Some support for Mr Carayol's position comes from a recent study by the Sorbonne University and Hay Group management consultancy which found that differences in corporate culture were the main reason behind the failure of 90 per cent of European mergers and acquisitions to meet the objectives of the companies involved.
Fewer than 30 per cent of the companies had even analysed the cultural compatibility of each other's organisations.
Corporate culture can also help a company to create a brand that defines the organisation to current and prospective em- ployees. This brand can prove a very effective tool when a company is recruiting new staff, according to Serena Lawlor, manager of The Irish Times advertising department.
"Is your brand an opportunity to promote your organisational culture?" Ms Lawlor asked at the conference. "Does it differentiate you from the crowd?
"In a recruitment market that's become increasingly competitive, it's important that your message reaches the right candidates."
