Tourism and Hospitality Management, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 93-102, 2006 Z. Cerović, A. Tomašević: THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON THE CORPORATE… 93 WIFI Össtereich Wirtschaftskammer T.E.I. Thessaloniki Greece Department of Tourism Management UDC 65.01:640.4 Preliminary communication Received: 14.09.2006 THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON THE CORPORATE CULTURE IN GLOBAL HOTEL COMPANIES Zdenko Cerović Amelia Tomašević University of Rijeka, Croatia Zagreb Tourist Bord, Croatia 1 Abstract: The national culture is a system of assumptions, values, norms and traditions shared by one national group; the corporate culture is a system of rituals, behavior patters, norms and values shared by majority of employees in a company. Both cultures influence the style of management and communication with employees. The national culture influences the corporate culture, but in a long term, a corporate culture can also influence the national culture. Strong corporate cultures can suppress the national culture through the system of standardization of business operations, which in international companies is an element of brand identification and a competitive advantage. Global hotel companies which manage the hotels all over the world, face problems which derive from differences between their own corporate culture and national cultures of local staff. The efficiency of operations will depend on the way and skills in handling those problems. The influence of national and sometimes local cultures might have positive impact on creation of very successful hotel system of hotel service which often is well accepted on tourist market, but might also result with potential misunderstandings and even opposite effects. The paper surveys the elements of national cultures which might have impact on corporate cultures. The paper assumes that global hotel companies often face big cultural and social differences in certain destinations of their business interest. The model of survey are hotel corporate cultures in Croatian, European and world hotels and their corporations. Key words: national culture, corporate culture, hotel, global hotel companies. Sažetak: UTJECAJ NACIONALNE KULTURE NA KORPORATIVNU KULTURU U GLOBALNIM HOTELSKIM KOMPANIJAMA. Nacionalna kultura je sustav pretpostavki, vrijednosti i normi koji su zajednički jednoj nacionalnoj grupi, a korporativna kultura je zbir vjerovanja, normi i vrijednosti koje dijeli većina zaposlenih u poduzeću. I nacionalna i korporativna kultura odražavaju se na način rukovođenja i komuniciranja sa zaposlenicima. Nacionalna kultura utječe na korporativnu kulturu, ali dugoročno i korporativna kultura može utjecati na nacionalnu kulturu. Jake korporativne kulture mogu zatomiti nacionalnu kulturu kroz sustav standardizacije cjelokupnog poslovanja, što u međunarodnim kompanijama 1 Zdenko Cerović, Ph.D., Full Professor, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Managment in Opatija, Croatia, Amelia Tomašević, Ph.D., Managing Director, Zagreb Tourist Bord, Croatia.