PATTERNS OF CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE AMONG INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS - 1960-1988

Increased communication, trade and travel between countries act to bring them together in many respects. The present study examines similarities in macro-environmental characteristics of eighteen industrialized nations over a twenty-eight-year period. Contrary to the initial research proposition, countries were found to be diverging, especially in the latter part of the time period. In spite of the increased communications, travel and trade between countries, physical distance remains an important determinant of macro-environmental similarity. Two measures of national culture, Power Distance and Individualism, were found to be related to change in macro-environmental factors.