Culture's Consequences for Management in Hong Kong

Abstract

In a recent review of Hofstede's comparative study of business practice and national cultures, 61 works replicating his methods are identified, and the critical four differences in the cultural dimension are ‘largely confirmed’. The only replication of Hofstede's study within IBM (his original sample vehicle) has largely validated the original model some twenty years later. These results seem to confirm the valuable contribution of Hofstede's work, although his model contains the limitations of all models; the simplification of reality into an understandable form cannot do justice to its complexity. In this paper, the main consequences of Hofstede's work for Hong Kong are reviewed. His proposition that culture and particularly social values influence economic activity and management, which is consequently ‘culture-bound’, is restated and supported by more recent studies.