Culture eats strategy for breakfast

Where I’ve seen the biggest failures in international expansion

It’s so simple, yet so many businesses fail doing exactly this.

Going global is a massive milestone - but it’s also the source of huge failure for businesses that don’t adapt.

There’s a saying in the business world: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

It’s a catchy way of saying you can build a brilliant business on paper, but if you don’t embed culture into your strategy, it’ll all fall apart when it’s executed.

And it’s not just about adapting to cultural differences in new markets - like adjusting for a market that practices Sharia law. It’s also about your workforce.

Take the US vs. the UK, for example. Work culture is night and day. I’ve seen American private equity firms come into the UK, implement their US strategies, and fail - despite having great systems and strategy.

Why? Because they ignored how differently people work and approach business in the UK.

I’ve seen this more times than I’d like. American firms buy up UK companies, execute a solid strategy...and then wonder why it flops.

It sounds simple, but the execution isn't easy.