Cultural perspectives on the measurement of corporate success

This paper discusses some insights that an understanding of national cultural differences might provide into problems relating to the measurement of corporate success and the disclosure of success-related information in an increasingly international business context. Arguments and evidence are presented which suggest that the measures of profits and information disclosed by companies around the world are significantly influenced by national cultural characteristics. Profits reported by UK and US companies are, for example, prepared on a much more optimistic basis and have a more shortterm orientation compared to those by German and Japanese companies. International performance comparisons and evaluations of relative strategic success based on published data must, therefore, be viewed with extreme caution and necessarily require further interpretation.