Analysis of cultural barriers to interoperability in the automotive supply chain using interpretative structural modeling approach

Cooperation between companies in the supply chain of different industries is essential to achieve ultimate customer satisfaction، but according to several studies that have been conducted، many cooperation projects will not be successful. One of the most important reasons for this is the lack of attention to issues of cultural differences in the creation of partnerships between organizations. Considering the importance of this issue، in this study، the major barriers of cultural interoperability between cooperating organizations in the automotive supply chain have been identified and then graded using interpretive structural modeling approach. Data required for this study have been gathered from the automotive industry experts in the city of Rasht using the questionnaire which has been designed by researcher according to the method of ISM for grading cultural barriers of interoperability. The results show that the removal of four barriers “difference between the strategic orientation of the organizations”، “personnel differences -in terms of knowledge، experience and capacity to learn”، “difference in language of organizations” and “the difference in interest of organizations to learn” are the foundation stone in the supply chain to remove cultural barriers to interoperability.