When a company decides to globalize its site, the Web team often learns the taboo colors and appropriate dress codes of a given culture, translates the text, and launches. But cultural differences run deeper than visual appearance or language; they reflect strong values. Rarely do globalized sites incorporate the nuances of a culture's social hierarchy, individualism, gender roles, time-orientation, or truth-seeking attributes.

Scholars have studied cultures thoroughly for years and have published several classic theories, many of which are not well known in the Web design community. The attributes mentioned above were set forth in 1997 by Geert Hofstede in Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. They may sound rather academic, but understanding them is the key to successfully globalizing your site, products, or services.