The reviews for a change say it all...
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
French-born marketing consultant and psychoanalyst Rapaille takes a
truism—different cultures are, well, different—and expands it by
explaining how a nation's history and cultural myths are
psychological templates to which its citizens respond unconsciously.
Fair enough, but after that, it's all downhill. Rapaille intends his
theory of culture codes to help us understand "why people do what
they do," but the "fundamental archetypes" he offers are just trumped-
up stereotypes. He often supports jarring pronouncements ("The
Culture Code for perfection in America is DEATH") with preposterous
generalizations and overstatements, e.g., Japanese men "seem utterly
incapable of courtship or wooing a woman." Writing with the naïveté
of someone who has learned about the world only through Hollywood
films, he seems unaware that every person living within a nation's
borders doesn't necessarily share the same cultural biases and
references. Rapaille's successful consulting career is evidence that
he's more convincing in the boardroom than he is on the page. Amid
the overheated prose and dubious factoids, it's easy to overlook the
book's scattered marketing proposals and employee-management tips.
(June 6)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier
Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“This book is just plain astonishing! Filled with profound insights
and ideas that have enormous consequences for today’s organizations.
If you want to understand customers, Constituencies, and crowds, this
book is required reading.”
--Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business, University of
Southern California and author of On Becoming a Leader_______________________________________________
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