Gerard Hendrik (Geert) Hofstede is a Dutch-born intercultural scholar with a PhD in social science from Groningen University. Prior to his doctoral studies, he had held a wide variety of jobs, including as middle manager in Dutch industrial companies and, earlier, as assistant engineer in a ship on a voyage to Indonesia; it was there that he first became fascinated by cultural variety. While completing his doctorate, Hofstede joined IBM and managed its Personnel Research Department. Later, he founded the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation in Tilburg. He has collaborated closely with one of his sons, Gert-Jan Hofstede.