Entrepreneurial Culture as a Coordination Mechanism: A Case Study of Strawberry and Petter Stordalen

Abstract

This study examines how entrepreneurial culture can be maintained in large-scale organisations despite increasing bureaucracy and structural complexity associated with organisational growth. While growing firms are often expected to become more formalised and less entrepreneurial over time, this thesis explores how entrepreneurial culture can be sustained through decentralised leadership, founder influence and shared organisational values, using Strawberry as an empirical case. The study applies a qualitative case study design based on thirteen semi-structured interviews, including interviews with operational employees, corporate representatives and the founder, Petter Stordalen. The empirical material is further complemented by corporate documents and public communication. Using a Gioia-inspired thematic analysis, the findings demonstrate that entrepreneurial culture within Strawberry is sustained through value-driven culture, decentralised responsibility and symbolic founder influence rather than through formal bureaucratic control systems. The findings further suggest that organisational culture functions as a central coordination mechanism, enabling the organisation to maintain flexibility, autonomy and entrepreneurial behaviour despite increasing scale and organisational complexity. The study contributes to research on entrepreneurial culture and founder-led organisations and entrepreneurial leadership in large-scale service organisations.