Cross-country comparisons have been at the heart of the field of international business, both in a theoretical and practical sense. Nevertheless, these kind of comparisons are ever difficult because the interpretation and understanding of concepts and dimensions used for comparison can be different across different countries. In order to prevent comparing the figurative apples with pears, the understanding of some concepts has to be examined in more detail. The first part of this paper addresses this issue by outlining the understanding of community across different societies. Four countries are evaluated, China and South Korea are found to have a similar in- versus out-group understanding of community whereas Sweden and South Africa have a more open idea of community. The second part focuses on the more practical aspect of the field of international business. The development of a new community, through social integration processes, after a merger or acquisition is important for the performance of the said merger or acquisition. Therefore, it is examined how the different understanding of community could have an impact on the performance of mergers or acquisitions. However, no statistical evidence is found for the expectation that performance differs across the acquirers from different nations. Thus, the effect of having a different understanding on the performance of mergers and acquisitions does not become clear in this paper.