Hall and Hall developed the low-context-high-context classification scheme, which focuses on the importance of context within a culture. To some extent, the existence of cultural clusters eases the difficulties of doing business internationally. Researchers have discovered that many countries share similar attitudes toward work roles, job satisfaction, and other work-related aspects of life. Often countries within a cultural cluster share a common language.
The pioneering research of Geert Hofstede has identified five basic cultural dimensions along which people may differ: social orientation, power orientation, uncertainty orientation, goal orientation, and time orientation. These differences affect business behavior in numerous ways and often lead to cross-cultural misunderstandings.