CASE STUDY

MODULE: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

PROGRAMME: BSc $($HONS$)$ BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

DATE OF EXAM: FRIDAY $05$ JULY $2024$

McDonald$$s Presence in Different Countries: Adapting Around the World

McDonald$$s Journey to Success

As a global brand, it is undeniable that McDonald$$s is present worldwide. From humble

beginnings as a small restaurant, it has become one of the world's leading food service

brands with more than $36,000$ restaurants in more than $100$ countries, serving $69$ million

consumers each day. It employs $1\mathrm{.}9$ million people and its revenue reached $$22\mathrm{.}8$ billion

by the year $2017.$

McDonald$$s was born in San Bernardino, California in $1940.$ The international business

started as a fast$-$food restaurant by brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald. From a

restaurant, the owners turned the business into a hamburger outlet before exploring the

franchise business. Back in $1954,$ a man named Ray Kroc discovered the small burger

restaurant in California, and wrote the first page of its history. Today, in terms of revenue,

McDonald$$s is considered as one of the biggest franchise restaurant chains in the world.

As of $2017,$ it has $37,241$ fast$-$food restaurants around the world. While its main menu

offerings consist of hamburgers and fries, the fast$-$food chain serves other items, including

milkshakes, soft drinks, desserts, breakfast fare, products made with chicken and wraps.

Like other fast$-$food restaurants, McDonald$$s$,$ as an international business, also faced

some challenging times. Still, the company was able to withstand the drawbacks, making

it one of the most successful fast$-$food franchises in the world.

The key factors for McDonald$$s fast food restaurants success in different countries are

adaptation as well as innovation. The company comes up with a variety of services and

products catering to the needs of a consumer market that is widely diverse, basing their

offerings on consumer demographics, local and economic factors.

For example, McDonald$$s offered fast and low$-$priced menu to cater for women joining the

labour force and the increasing teenage population in the $1960$s$.$

McDonald$$s is an example of a company that gained tremendous benefits from

globalization. Of course, this is largely due to the dual marketing plan of the company,

focusing on standardisation and adaptation:

$$ Standardisation strategy

Anywhere the company operates, it offers identical food products such as McFlurry,

McNuggets, McChicken, Happy Meal or Filet$-$O$-$Fish. The plan provides the company with

a strong image. The strategy is a time and money saver for McDonald$$s as it helped build

economies of scale.

$$ Adaptation strategy

The strategy can be compared to localization. With this strategy, McDonald$$s adapts to

the needs of the consumers as required by the cultures of specific countries.

More on McDonald$$s Adaptation Strategy

Adaptation works very well for McDonald$$s$.$ The strategy enables the fast$-$food chain to

have a wider reach worldwide. However, the strategy does require higher communication

and production costs. Aside from the winning strategies, the company$$s marketing mix is

likewise flexible in order to tailor it to the local market requirements in terms of location of

distribution, promotion plans and pricing.

McDonald$$s is able to adapt its menu and business plans to each culture. It shows that it

respects the differences between cultures and adheres to the country$$s policy when it

develops additional items for its menu. The company does product tests and

experimentation through the addition or removal of food items based on local trends and

popularity among consumers.

McDonald$$s in Japan

Japanese cuisine is very different from the rest of the world. In the initial stage,

McDonald$$s in Japan retained the menu for the U$.$S$.$ market. But slowly, it replaced and

added menu items to cater to Japanese preferences. The company introduced Green

Tea ice cream, Rice Burger, Seaweed Shaker and Teriyaki Burger. The Japanese

McDonald$$s franchise also added shrimp burgers, shrimp nuggets, milkshakes flavoured

with green tea and breakfast meal with hotdogs, mustard, ketchup and relish. Because

the appetite of the Japanese differs from the Americans, the serving sizes of burgers,

fries and drinks in Japan are smaller.

The localized marketing plans work great for McDonald$$s$.$ For the Japanese market, it

adjusts its name for katakana $($used for foreign words$)$ by using the name Makudonarudo,

which not only sounds attractive but also quite appropriate.

McDonald$$s in China

In China also, it adapted to local tastes and preferences. Instead of meat from chicken

breasts, McDonald$$s uses meat from chicken thighs in its chicken burgers because it is

the locals$$ preference. Grilled Chicken Burger is a meal offered during Chinese New Year,

which is served with curly fries and Chinese horoscope with the $12$ animal signs.

McDonald$$s in India

India has a very