wtfeWays They Frame Engineering
日本語

Chinavsthe Netherlands

中国とオランダCNNL

Seen from China: each line below describes the Netherlands relative to China.

Swap: see China from the Netherlands

Culture Map: eight scales

Erin Meyer's eight scales, sorted by how far apart China and the Netherlands sit, largest gap first.

Filled dot: China, where you are looking fromHollow ring: the Netherlands

Where you will notice the difference6 scales

  1. Leading

    The Netherlands keeps less distance between boss and team than China (5 steps)

    China +2, the Netherlands −3, on a line from −3 (Egalitarian) to +3 (Hierarchical).

  2. Communicating

    The Netherlands spells things out more explicitly than China (4 steps)

    China +2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Low-context) to +3 (High-context).

  3. Evaluating

    The Netherlands gives negative feedback more directly than China (4 steps)

    China +1, the Netherlands −3, on a line from −3 (Direct negative feedback) to +3 (Indirect negative feedback).

  4. Deciding

    The Netherlands decides by group agreement more than China (4 steps)

    China +2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Consensual) to +3 (Top-down).

  5. Trusting

    The Netherlands builds trust through reliable work more than China (4 steps)

    China +2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Task-based) to +3 (Relationship-based).

  6. Disagreeing

    The Netherlands is more willing to disagree openly than China (4 steps)

    China +2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Confrontational) to +3 (Avoids confrontation).

Not placed2 scales

These scales are left unmarked: either Meyer leaves a country off the scale or no source places it, and drawing it anyway would be guessing.

  • PersuadingMeyer leaves China off this scale and describes its reasoning as holistic
  • SchedulingNo source places China on this scale
Positions are read by eye from Erin Meyer's published charts and rounded to seven steps. A step means “further towards that pole”, not a measured distance. How the positions were read

Hofstede: six dimensions

Scores from 0 to 100, sorted by the gap between China and the Netherlands. They describe national averages, not either country's character.

  1. Individualism

    The Netherlands scores 57 points higher than China (100 against 43)

    China 43, the Netherlands 100, on a line from 0 (Collectivist) to 100 (Individualist).

  2. Motivation towards achievement and success

    The Netherlands scores 52 points lower than China (14 against 66)

    China 66, the Netherlands 14, on a line from 0 (Consensus-oriented) to 100 (Decisive).

  3. Indulgence

    The Netherlands scores 44 points higher than China (68 against 24)

    China 24, the Netherlands 68, on a line from 0 (Restrained) to 100 (Indulgent).

  4. Power distance

    The Netherlands scores 42 points lower than China (38 against 80)

    China 80, the Netherlands 38, on a line from 0 (Low power distance) to 100 (High power distance).

  5. Uncertainty avoidance

    The Netherlands scores 23 points higher than China (53 against 30)

    China 30, the Netherlands 53, on a line from 0 (Tolerant of ambiguity) to 100 (Avoids ambiguity).

  6. Long-term orientation

    The Netherlands scores 10 points lower than China (67 against 77)

    China 77, the Netherlands 67, on a line from 0 (Short-term) to 100 (Long-term).

Country averages. About 80% of variation in values is between people inside a country (Taras et al. 2016).Source: The Culture Factor — Country comparison tool (2026).About the Hofstede dimensions

What the sources say, theme by theme

Entries for China and the Netherlands, side by side on wide screens. Each keeps its own confidence label and citations.

Design & quality

China3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Failure & risk

China2 claims

Netherlands2 claims

  • ING moved to a Spotify-style structure of squads and tribes in 2015. In a McKinsey interview (2017), it described each tribe writing down its results and biggest learnings every quarter and celebrating both successes and failures.

    Attested1 source2017nl-failure-1

  • According to Thomke (HBR, 2020), only about 10% of Booking.com's experiments produce positive results; the other 90% or so do not support the hypothesis. The company runs its experiments on that assumption.

    Attested1 source2020nl-failure-2

Feedback & code review

China3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Hierarchy & decisions

China2 claims

Netherlands3 claims

Communication & docs

China4 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Work & careers

China4 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Open source & community

China5 claims

Netherlands2 claims