19th International Conference Working Papers
Are JIT and TQM More Important than Culture in Explaining Interorganizational Cooperation? The Case of the Automotive Parts Industry in MexicoDaniel A. Glaser-Segura, Texas A&M University, San Antonio Download the Paper (PDF format) - July 16, 2009 Tell a colleague about it. Printing Tips: Select 'print as image' in the Acrobat print dialog if you have trouble printing. ABSTRACT: As organizations transition to global operations across cultural boundaries, a question of efficacy of interorganizational cooperation through formal institutionalization of operations must be asked. Which plays a larger function: the role of culture or the institutions of operational improvement? We based our study on institutional economics, which provides a theoretical framework that includes the causal role of culture on interorganizational cooperation as well as the need to improve interorganizational performance (North 1990). Up to this point research on the role of culture on interorganizational cooperation has not been published to a significant degree in the literature. We measured the role of individualism and collectivism, as a prominent and measureable aspect of culture (Hofstede, 1980), as well as, just-in-time (JIT) and total quality management (TQM), two well known operational improvement practices (Flynn et al. 1994) and compared their respective influence on the way that buying organizations cooperate with suppliers in the Mexican automotive parts industry. From an operational approach, there is a large body of evidence to support the notion that JIT and TQM foster closer interorganizational cooperation, particularly in the automotive parts industry. Data were collected from the principal managers responsible for the implementation of purchasing policy from a random sample of 73 Mexican automotive parts companies. The research question was tested using hierarchical regression analysis. The results show a positive relationship between collectivism and interorganizational cooperation. The results also reconfirm the idea that JIT and TQM are positively related to interorganizational cooperation. The findings further support the superordinating goal effect of JIT and TQM on inter-organizational cooperation. The findings support the notion that organizational initiatives can overcome cultural constraints or, as in this study, they actually work together. The results of this study lucidly demonstrate that, as is found among individuals and small groups, collectivism is positively related with cooperation. This paper was prepared for presentation to the 19th International Conference of the International Trade and Finance Association in Beijing, China, May 27-30, 2009. SUGGESTED CITATION:
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