Mcdonalds

Cross Cultural Perspective Adrienne Ross Duhancik ETH/316 4/14/12 The McDonald’s Corporations was started in 1937 with two brothers as a BBQ restaurant in California. After a few years they realized that their hamburger sales were going through the roof. The brothers shut down their BBQ joint and opened a carhop, self-service McDonald’s restaurant with a limited menu of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, shakes, soft drinks, and apple pie. In 1953 the organization became a franchise opening two more restaurants on the west coast of the United States. In 1976 the first McDonald’s opened in New Zealand, making this early organization a global organization. There are many hurtles that McDonald’s as a company had to jump over for the development of not only working as a global organization but to satisfy the needs of their customers in the United States. The Filet-o-fish was created and boomed in Catholic neighbor hoods on Fridays during lent, where according to religion one is not allowed to consume red meat on Fridays during a period of time lasting for 40 days. As the company grew bigger and opened more franchises in other countries there are other barriers such as language, culture, religion, and ethics. Various regions got different socio-cultural backgrounds. This subsequently affects the business operations. For example, they have to adopt halal concept for arrangement of meat for burgers in Muslim countries. On the other hand, the non-vegetarian menu includes chicken and fish items only for India but not the beef, as cow is a sacred animal there. There are many other examples of how McDonald’s has changed their menus to suit the areas around the world that were in need of this market. For instance in Germany and France McDonald’s serves beer, which is something that would be unheard of in the United States. Another prime example would be the McArabia is made with grilled chicken or grilled kofta (beef with spices). Comes with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and garlic mayonnaise, wrapped in Arabic style pita bread. As well as McDonald’s has tailored its menu for china where it employs 50,000 people. Furthermore, 95% of the McDonald’s food comes from local Chinese suppliers, helping to keep costs low. It is of more important of newly invaded markets like Asia and Latin America. Surveys has proved that there is significant complains for varieties of products in McDonald’s. Ideas can be taken from Roasted beef burritos, taco recipes, fajitas of Latin America, vegetarian burger, chicken tikka masala of India, Teriyaki Mac of Japan, Filet-O-Fish of China. Another way the McDonald’s has helped blend the cultural gap is by partnering with Microsoft to develop new Point Of Sale or POS systems for other countries. This partnership made it easier for workers in other countries to use the POS not only in their own language but also with the menu that has been developed for their area and culture integrated into it. McDonald’s has also installed free wifi into all of their fast food restaurants all over the world, which in not only good customer service, but is a great way to market themselves as well. McDonald’s has also been working very hard to make the company environmentally friendly. By dealing with green issues, renewing energy sources, recycling of rubbish or waste disposal all is a matter of concern. Environment is the biggest challenge because of their commitment towards the environment; it has adopted Rain Forest Policy. This states its assurance for beef purchasing practices that do not cause tropical de-forestation by any means. McDonald’s is fully aware of the fact that enormous utilization of the natural resources can imbalance the eco system. That is why, it is recycling vegetable oil, grease etc. by converting them as fuel for their diesel trucks. McDonald’s also has many foundations that they work with within their communities all over the county. Charities, sponsorships and disaster relief are just to name a few. The Ronald McDonald House Foundation donation boxes can be seen in every restaurant around the world. This foundation creates, finds and supports programs that provide stability and resources to families so they can get and keep their children healthy and happy. In addition to their overall corporate support, McDonald’s franchisees, restaurants and regional staff contributed to the charity as well. On a Global Impact level McDonald's sponsorships of local grassroots programs and global events like the Olympics and The FIFA World Cup provide opportunities that make a difference for kids and communities around the world. Over the last few years especially the world has seen many disasters, the earthquakes in Haiti and China were some of these that McDonald’s came to help. “From January 16-22, 2010, all McDonald’s restaurants in 19 Latin American countries donated 50 cents from the sales of Big Mac sandwiches and Big Mac Extra Value Meals. In addition, McDonald's Corporation donated $500,000 to the relief effort, bringing the total amount collected for the victims of this tragedy to $1,647,000. The funds were channeled through the International Federation of the Red Cross and used for disaster relief efforts.”(McDonalds, 2012)
 Also In 2008, May 12 earthquake in China, “McDonald's China served almost 40,000 meals to earthquake victims, relief workers, members of the military, hospital staff and police and fire department officers. Approximately 17,000 meals were also delivered to hospitals that were running out of food and to front-line relief workers, the army and police and fire officers. As recovery efforts progressed, McDonald’s China and RMHC China co-funded the building of new schools in the region, and Ronald McDonald House Charities, Inc. donated 10 new ambulances.”(McDonalds, 2012) “McDonald’s started its global diversity journey by creating the Global Women’s Initiative in 2009. This initiative is active in all of McDonald’s operating areas of the world and is sponsored globally by Don Thompson, McDonald’s COO. In each part of the world, this initiative supports the recruitment, development, and advancement of women at all levels of the company while creating a culture where women have the opportunity to succeed and grow. In 2011, the Catalyst organization recognized the Global Women’s Initiative as an innovative and systemic means through which women can thrive in the McDonald’s system and awarded the company the prestigious Catalyst Award.” (McDonalds, 2012) McDonald’s, although sometime seen as a not healthy alternative to a home cooked meal, makes their mark as a global organization. By the training of their world wide staff and the integration of key elements of not only the companies motto and ethics, but to change their ways to meet the expectations of the countries and areas that the franchise is placed, has become one of the top organizations around the world. The charities and relief funds that have been sent out around the world speak very highly of this once small company founded in 1937 by two brothers. References: * (2012). Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/sustainability/our_focus_areas/community.html * Madison, J. (2009, July 09). McDonald. Retrieved from http://foodnetworkhumor.com/2009/07/mcdonalds-menu-items-from-around-the-world-40-pics/