Case Study on McDonald’ Success through Cross-Cultural Adaptation

Question 01: Is it true to say that McDonald’s has imposed the home country culture on the consumers abroad?

Answer: The answer is no. Because, in every country, McDonald’s policy-makers have gone through the cross-cultural adaptability. It is one of the most important factor which make them successful internationally.Basically, it is natural that a customer, may be from any part of the world, does not relish that its own culture should be undermined by a foreign company. This is the reason that a company is successful abroad only when it helps preserve the culture, taste and belief of the host country. McDonald’s policy-makers realized this fact well and they went largely for cross-cultural adaptation.For an example, in India, the majority of the people are Hindus and strictly not taking beef. Taking this fact in consideration, McDonald’s serve mutton burger instead of beef burger.

Question 02: How are India and China different from the viewpoint of McDonald’s?

Answer: The viewpoint is very simple in case of India. McDonald’s identifies the local culture and make their menu in a way so that it doesn’t make a conflict to the food behavior in that region. In general, the majority of the Indians are Hindus and as per the religious law, they don’t take beef. So, McDonald’s (when they entered in India) changed its strategy and going to serve mutton burger instead of beef burger. The people are vegetarian in the state of Gujarat. So, McDonald’s introduced veggie burger and other Indian traditional items, such as samosa, vada, dosa, etc. On the contrary, in Delhi, it sells meat burgers, popularly known as Maharajas McKebabs to conform the taste buds of the people of capital city of India.In case of China, McDonald’s identifies the living standard of the people and tries to serve the luxury food items which is very popular food behavior in that region.

In China, McDonald’s has more than 100 outlets, a large network of restaurants. Here, this company highlights the beef burger which is popularly known as Quarter Pounder. And more importantly, it is supposed as a luxury in there.After a long discussion on the difference between the viewpoint in India and China, we found a conclusion. That is, in India, McDonald’s focuses on local culture, taste and belief and serves different food items in different state of India. In China, this company emphasizes on the living standard of the people and goes for (hypothetical) luxury food items along with as usual menu.