It's funny that the author associates variants of time to a culture or nation, instead of to an "environment" or "organization." In the US, I have been in companies where no meeting starts within 15-20 minutes of theoretical start time. It is typically because of two reasons: a) people are always late at a given company, or b) telephone bridge or technology does not cooperate.

This is what a meeting looks like many times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ

Being on time does not mean being productive.

[EDIT: Comment to video]