Differences in culture imply that:
There is a need for managers to develop cross-cultural literacy.
One of the biggest dangers confronting a company that goes abroad for the first time is the danger of being ill-informed. International businesses that are ill-informed about the practices of another culture are likely to fail. Doing business in different cultures requires adaptation to conform with the value systems and norms of that culture. The way in which deals are negotiated, the appropriate incentive pay systems for sales people, the name of product, the structure of the organization, and so on, are all sensitive to cultural differences. What works in one culture might not work in another.
To combat the danger of being ill-informed, international businesses should consider employing local citizens to help them do business in a particular culture. They must also ensure that home-country executives are cosmopolitan enough to understand how differences in culture affect the practice of business.