Exploring a Chairman of the Board’s Construction of Organizational Reality: The Colruyt Case

Abstract

A qualitative exploration of Colruyt, a Belgian company that evolved from a one-stare enterprise into Belgium's third largest food retail chain comprising some 120 stores, is presented. The company is unique on several dimensions: its managerial structures and business processes, its use of information technology, and its views of company rights, duties, and obligations concerning customers, employees, creditors, and government. During this interview, Mr. Colruyt,(1) Chairman of Colruyt's Supervisory Board, returns time and again to a single dominant idea: the use of information technology based communication to create new possibilities, organizational structures, and relationships among the firm and its employees, worker unions, customers, and suppliers. The qualitative exploration clarifies how societal, religious, historical, and linguistic beliefs unite to form a unique corporate environment. Because the contact time with the Chair of the Supervisory Board was limited to three hours, a qualitative approach was key to the success of an in-depth exploration of the company. Our analysis should be of interest to managers and academics who practice or study global business and business process reengineering.