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322 CULTURES IN ORGANIZATIONS

the goals of successful business leaders in their country. M.B.A. students
with work experience are probably among the best-informed judges avail-
able. With the help of an international network of colleagues, Geert and
three coauthors polled more than 1,800 M.B.A. students—part-timers or
others with work experience—at twenty-one local universities in fi fteen
countries (later extended to seventeen), using a list of fi fteen potential
37
goals. These goals and their average attributed order of priority across
all seventeen countries are listed in Table 9.1.

TABLE 9.1 Overall Order of Priority of 15 Potential Business Goals
Attributed to Their Country’s Business Leaders by Part-Time M.B.A.
Students from 17 Countries

TOP FIVE:

1. Growth of the business
2. Continuity of the business
3. This year’s profi ts
4. Personal wealth
5. Power
MIDDLE FIVE:

6. Honor, face, reputation
7. Creating something new
8. Profi ts ten years from now
9. Staying within the law
10. Responsibility toward employees
BOTTOM FIVE:

11. Respecting ethical norms
12. Responsibility toward society
in general
13. Game and gambling spirit
14. Patriotism, national pride
15. Family interests (e.g., jobs for
relatives)