This study aims to understand how organizations navigate internal similarities/differences across diverse locations. Focusing on institutional reviewers, we propose four hypotheses involving cultural and economic factors to explain disparities in evaluation outcomes across host countries. Our analysis validates two logics. Firstly, institutional reviewers encounter cultural barriers and penalize countries with dissimilar cultures. Secondly, institutional reviewers utilize their discretionary power to protect the home country from competition with other host countries in the international market. This study sheds light on the strategic preferences of institutional reviewers in shaping market perceptions and contributes to a deeper understanding of the inequalities embedded in evaluation outcomes. It also helps people understand how organizations trade off internal similarities/differences by balancing external adaptability and internal commensurability.