For a business, culture is made up of the behaviors that management reward. Most of the reward is money, immediate or deferred, and some of it is in accolades, social respect, and other forms of promotion.
The revenue model drives the behavior of the salespeople. If you sell small subscriptions, no individual customer is important but marketing is. If you sell multi-year service contracts that take six months to sign, your individual customers are important and the salespeople bringing them in are important.
If the company perceives that it is selling a high-value service, the development teams are important. When the company is selling a low-margin commodity, the people who can improve the cost structure are the heroes.
The revenue model drives the behavior of the salespeople. If you sell small subscriptions, no individual customer is important but marketing is. If you sell multi-year service contracts that take six months to sign, your individual customers are important and the salespeople bringing them in are important.
If the company perceives that it is selling a high-value service, the development teams are important. When the company is selling a low-margin commodity, the people who can improve the cost structure are the heroes.