Experience confirms what academia has researched and proven: Obvious cultural differences are easier to deal with than the unexpected!
My favourite case in discussions on the cultural dimension in business are the close encounters where none of the parties expect cultural differences to play a role.

Cultural differences played a major role in destroying attempts to merge Swedish Telia and Norwegian Telenor.
So a warning need to be issued: Cultural differences should never be ignored, but be a standard procedure element of any relevant analysis.
When travelling far, we are mentally prepared to meet a different culture – different way of thinking. But those differences are actually around us, even within apparently homogeneous cultures.
Anders, from a rainy and chilly Gjøvik, Norway