Any company seeking global presence, has to consider several key factors to handle an international project successfully such as:
1. Legal Systems
2. Quality Standards
4. Language Barriers
5. Time Zone Changes
6. Economic Conditions
7. Cultural differences.
If these factors are not taken into account by the PM while delivering an international project, the company might face difficulty to gain buy-in, support and the project might face significant loss or failure, and a significant cost will have to be recovered later on. So usually the companies use a tool called 5-D model, also known as Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions model to manage the international projects, in order to understand the cultural differences between any 2 or more countries.

It takes into account 5 key areas:
1 Power Distance : it is used to understand the equality gap in any country.In any country of high Power Distance, PM might engage with only senior stakeholders and not with everyone else during the process.
2. Individualism : Measures the need for personal achievements Vs the needs of the group. In a country with high individualism, they provide more input and take ownership of certain parts of the project.
3.Masculinity: it measures a country’s need for competitiveness between the two genders. In a country with high masculinity, a male PM might face less resistance than a female or at least the boundaries might not get blurred with male and female roles.
4. Uncertainty Avoidance : This takes into account any country’s flexibility and how accepting the country is of uncertainties. Any country with scores of high Uncertainty Avoidance will have lots of rules and well documented procedures.
5. Long-Term Orientation: Measures the preference of the long term horizon over the short term. Countries with high Long Term Orientation give little importance to short term deadlines and milestones.

This tool provides an overview and understanding of any country for delivering international projects so that the project can be tailored accordingly.