Fons Trompenaars - Riding the Waves of Culture, Fourth Edition: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, 4th Edition

S INCE THE first edition of this book in 1993, the central premise has remainednamely, that to be effective in leading and doing business with both an international and diverse environment, leaders and managers will have to recognize and respect cultural differences.

In the second edition we extended support of the core constructs by providing a number of country-specific examples, paying particular attention to the statistical significance and reliability of the underlying cultural database. In addition, we presented a new framework to reconcile the dilemmas that arise from cultural diversity. In a three-step structure, we gave an exhaustive treatment to the three Rs of Recognition, Respect, and Reconciliation.

The context for the third edition (2012) was that the world of business continued to move ever rapidly to the global village, accelerated by changing political, social, and economic forces enabled by air travel and communications technology. While cultural factors had long been recognized as critical, the earlier more anthropological ideas that emphasized differences needed to be supplemented and extended by a new body of knowledge that is more relevant to todays world. The focus and need was shifting from simply understanding cultural differences and how to prevent embarrassments and resolve communication issues to how to leverage difference for competitive advantage, in a world where even local business may involve leading a diverse workforce.

In the third edition we added the fourth step to build on the first three given in earlier editions. We introduced the fourth R, for Realization, in this edition, so that culture is ever more explicitly linked to the bottom line.

Studies of cultures are now further clouded by the consequences of migrations, immigration and acculturation, and cultural differences across generations, along with new players such as India and South America as well as China in the center stage.

This new fourth edition goes further as we seek to respond to the rapidly accelerating new ways of working that owe their origin to ever greater diversity, advances in Internet technologies and online meetings, sociopolitical dynamics (equality through me too and BLN), global warming, autonomous vehicles, and at a time when the coronavirus epidemic is changing the world.

To serve these changes and to make the knowledge and associated wisdom more accessible to a wider audience, we have captured both the earlier and more recent constructs in digital formats. Along with conventional printed copies of this book and electronic delivery of e-books, this fourth edition serves as a central portal from which readers can follow their interest and go deeper by exploring the many web links provided. These will enable readers to test themselves online with interactive cases and explore the increasing portfolio of apps developed by the authors and their research and support team that focus on the many aspects of culture presented in the text.

New content on realizing the business benefits of international and transnational operations is considered in some depth. Added to that, special treatment is given to cultural differences in alliances, mergers, and acquisitions. We illustrate the power of these ideas by showing how they can be applied in the cultural integration of organizations to significant advantage over conventional (financial) due diligence. The interactive apps bring these ideas to life as readers can explore for themselves.

The cultural databases that underpin this book have been extended to include not only more cases and more country data from more respondents but also a whole wealth of cultural measurements of competences, dilemmas and their reconciliations, servant leadership across cultures, innovation paradigms across cultures, and multicultural and remote team effectiveness.

None of the value of the earlier editions has been lost, and this new edition provides an evidence-driven framework essential for all business leaders and managers, whether they serve as CEO of a major global corporation or play an important middle-management role in a section of their smaller local company. The latter more than ever need to interact with a diverse workforce, as well as with a diverse customer and supplier base, and therefore require a certain level of cultural competence.