MODERATOR: There are two quick questions here and then we'll move to the back of the room.

BOYLAN: (to girl bringing microphone): OK. Thank you very much.

BOYLAN: (to Hofstede): Thank you ...
     Thank you very much for coming to speak to us. It's a great pleasure.

     Uh, you defend...uh...er...strongly the idea of very few -- YOUR --
     dimensions as being the economical model.

     So therefore we don't really need more (you seem to be saying).

     Uh, and I probably would agree...
     IF you want to use the dimensions on a cross-cultural basis.

     
     But what do you think of another approach?

     We abandon using them to compare cultures,

     but we create, country by country, ad hoc lists of dimensions

     that will permit an intuitive...uh in depth uh.. description of that culture?

HOFSTEDE: What you describe, actually,
                      is the difference between an "etic" and an "emic" approch...

BOYLAN: That's right.

HOFSTEDE: ... and "etic" means that you compare different cultures ...
     on the.. as phones ... and the emic as phonemes.
     If you have the opportunity of doing that, I would do it;
     but I would do both.
     Uh... etm..I'm...I'm very fond of emic studies...

BOYLAN:                                                             You are?!

HOFSTEDE: ...because they help us understand what the "etic" is about.
     The “etic” is always very shallow... if you want to understand,
     you have to, you try to keep in mind there are both kinds.

     so, by all means, if you... if you are an "emic" person... you, you're "emic!

BOYLAN: (laughing) OK... but... but you always back it up with "etic".
     
HOFSTEDE: Yeah, well, first of all, I was BORN an engineer.

AUDIENCE: (laughing)

HOFSTEDE: ...and... uh.. I think that when I focused on the role of the "emic", and it's very difficult to tie them together...
     and you must always...also..
     give those "emic" people something to wrestle against.