Global Expansion of McDonalds

Global Expansion of McDonalds

Many American corporations have attempted to expand their business globally. Some of these corporations have succeeded, but some have also failed because they have encountered different cultural barriers and differences that made it hard for these corporations to succeed. One of those multinational corporations that have encountered a few cultural barriers as they began global expansion was none other than McDonald's. Though McDonald's has encountered some of these obstacles, they have found solutions that resulted in success of the expansion.

In 1971, McDonalds began to enter the Japanese market as Den Fujita established the first McDonald's in Japan. In Japan, food preference is considered to be culturally oriented and it is one of the cultural norms for its people. When McDonald's entered the Japanese market, it brought with it a menu that mainly consisted of food that resembled the American culture. This did not sit that well with the Japanese culture as they pride in their oriented cuisine, which is very sacred to them. So what did McDonald's come up with? Well, they decided to adopt the culture of Japan and come out with a menu that consisted of Japanese style cuisine such as the rice burger, fried egg burger and the teriyaki burger. Another obstacle they were presented with was that in Japan, it is a tradition for all family members and guests to sit at a table and eat together, which gave the Japanese the feeling of bringing people together and giving them a sense of community. It was how the Japanese people bonded and created relationships. When McDonald's was first established in Japan, it was set up as more of a grab-and-go style restaurant and even had counters and stools so that customers could eat quickly, which was totally against the cultural norm for this country. As McDonald's realized this issue, they decided to create a sit-down layout with tables and chairs on the upper floors of the restaurant so that families could sit down together the traditional way (Ohnuki-Tierney, 1997).

McDonald's also decided to expand to China and India as well. As McDonald's expanded into China and India, they were faced with similar cultural barriers as in Japan. The cultural differences became an issue in both of these countries and McDonald's knew they were taking a big step. In China, they also had a traditional culture for their food. They loved food with color, fragrance, flavor and variety. To them, McDonald's was just another restaurant that pursued the American culture. For this, McDonald's started to see more and more Chinese turn away form their business. So what happened next? McDonald's decided it would be a good idea to combine some elements of the Chinese culture into their food. They have brought out many food items with elements of Chinese culture like the Sichuan Pickle and the Shredded Pork Soup ("KFC and McDonald's: A Model of Blended Culture," 2004). In addition to the success in China, McDonald's has developed a program with