Relationship between culture and the level of internal integration of logistics and marketing functions - an explorative analysis

Cultural characteristics and different managerial aspects that may influence the degree of internal integration through facilitating and hindering factors play an important role in exploring internal integration of different functions. The following paper examines the relationship between cultural characteristics of logistics managers of different nationalities and inter-functional integration of company’s logistics and marketing functions. More specifically, it aims to investigate whether and to what extent cultural traits and nationalities of logistics managers may influence the level of integration of logistics and marketing functions. For this purpose, the level of internal integration and the role of national cultures will be examined. Using quantitative research methods, the relationship between culture and the level of internal integration between logistics and marketing functions will be examined. A small data sample for the research was collected from Slovenian parent retail companies and their foreign subsidiaries. The findings suggest that there is a connection between the level of integration and cultural characteristics of employees from logistics function.