Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values

This is a good book, even though it is dated.............. I recommend this book.......Good Material for the Traveling Business Person

If you need to learn about various cultures for different countries, this book is THE source. Hofstede's groundbreaking work is internationally recognized. Although the study was done in the late 1960's - early 1970's, the information is still relevant and interesting. For anyone who has to spend time in another country, they would be doing themselves a favor by getting a hold of this book. The only problem with this book is that it is not one of the easiest reads I've ever seen by far. To his credit however, he provides lots of tables and charts for the person who typically scans material. A must have for expatriates or those seeking an MBA.

I have never seen elsewhere a survey with such a well-constructed methodology and world-wide scope. If you can wade through (or bleep over) the methodology, you'll be impressed at the ways the cultures of the 40 countries covered resemble and differ from each other. One of my all-time favorites.

The scope of Hofstede's study (more than 100,000 surveys in 60+ countries) has been called "vast" and "staggering": it certainly stands as the largest cross-cultural values survey in history. More importantly, the book has changed the way that management and psychology researchers look at cross-cultural (or cross- national) comparisons. By providing four dimensions of culture (individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity) and numerical scores, he has both provided a theory for differences between national cultures and a way to cross-check those differences. It is one of the most cited works in international management (1000+ citations according to Songergaard in a 1994 article in Organization Studies). Those with a non-academic interests (i.e., those involved in international trade) may be better off with his more readable 1991 book, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.