The firm's work focuses on improving the global effectiveness of organizations by helping companies to recognize cultural differences and their background; learn to value and respect those differences; and reconcile seemingly opposite cultural values. He also serves as a visiting professor for the international M.B.A. program at the Erasmus University-Rotterdam School of Management. Previously Fons was the managing director of the Centre for International Business Studies, a consultancy and training organization for international management. Before joining CIBS he worked for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Fons's book Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business was named the 1994 Book of the Year by the Order of Experts and Consultants on Organization (OOA), a Dutch management organization. He also coauthored Seven Cultures of Capitalism with Charles Hampden-Turner. Fons consults with many leading companies worldwide; in 1991 he received the International Professional Practice Area Research Award by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

Trompenaars received his Ph.D. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and his degree in economics from the Free University of Amsterdam.

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