A changing scene: Comparing business cultures in Peru and the Netherlands

✍ Scribed by Daniel More Torres; Stephanie Jones

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 404 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1932-2054
• DOI: 10.1002/joe.20328

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The objective of this study was initially to examine the differences in the business cultures of Peru and the Netherlands; in the process, it was discovered that the traditional view of the culture of Peru, as described in the cross‐cultural management literature, would appear to have lost some accuracy and relevance over the last 20–30 years. Peruvian businesspeople, quantitatively compared in matched pairs with Dutch counterparts, show cultural behavioral preferences at odds with the profile recorded by Hofstede. Meanwhile the Dutch sample, although showing some cultural evolution in the last few decades, reveals less dramatic culture change. To identify the cultural differences, a range of businesspeople in Peru and the Netherlands was surveyed. An overall total of 76 matched pairs (two individuals who were alike in terms of age, gender, years of education, and whether they were entrepreneurs, differing only in being Peruvian or Dutch) were questioned. It was concluded that, although based on a much smaller sample, these findings may shed doubt upon traditionally accepted profiles of other South American countries and, indeed, on other countries that may have undergone significant economic, social, and political change over recent decades. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.