Royal Dutch/Shell is another company whose values became a hindrance.
During the 1930s, Shell was dominated by Henri Deterding, who was a strong leader and a Nazi sympathizer.
Shell’s other executives finally forced Deterding out, and the painful episode imprinted on the company a distaste for central control – a value that came to permeate its culture and led to the establishment of fiercely independent country managers.
The decentralized structure enabled Shell to seize growth opportunities around the world.
But when oil prices fell during the 1990s, the belief in decentralized authority prevented the company from quickly rationalizing its operations and cutting costs.