Imagine you are opening a chain of coffee shops in five countries. You could send the exact same menu and store design everywhere, trusting that a good espresso is universal. Or you could ask local partners to adapt the menu to local tastes. Which approach works? The answer is not simply “it depends” – it depends on how deeply you understand the cultures involved and how your strategy either adapts to those cultures or tries to reshape them. In this chapter, we explore the dance between strategic plans and cultural realities, and why that dance decides the fate of global ventures, alliances, and mergers.