Geert Hofstede's "Culture's Consequences": A Macat Analysis

Culture’s Consequences was the first study took and in depth look at cultural differences using data. Taking advantage of the global span of his employer, IBM, Hofstede gathered survey data in 20 languages and across 70 countries to produce a unique study of national values.

He introduced an innovative framework for analyzing his data, identifying patterns he called “dimensions.” This allowed him to plot the values of different cultures to new levels of accuracy. Hofstede then identified dimensions in the cultures of organizations that were based not on values but on practices—practices that organizations could change to fit the values of their employees.