Sharam Obed
03/06/2014
MGMT 434

Exercise 2: MacDonald’s: Global, Multicountry, Or Transnational strategy?

McDonald’s was founded in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California as a barbecue restaurant, and since that time it has emerged as the world’s leading fast-food restaurant serving around 68 million customers daily, covering 119 countries and spanning 6 continents. In 1955 Ray Kroc joined the company and eventually bought out the McDonald brothers for the rights of the company, eventually watching it boom. As of 2012 McDonald’s Corporation had an annual revenue of $27.5 billion, and profits of $5.5 billion. McDonald's has in the world, a policy of low prices and volume, major elements of its competitive advantage. (Audra, 2011) To deliver all meals daily, prices must be affordable. We don't go to McDonald's like we go into a classic restaurant. McDonald's goal is to attract consumers the most regularly possible, it should not propose menus at high prices.

Individual

McDonald’s International strategy could be best described as a multidomestic strategy, because in order to capture the interest of their host country they’re able to adapt their menu to cultural likings. For example in India Cows are sacred, so McDonald restaurants instead of serving beef burgers, they serve vegetarian burgers along with other products that contain no beef. We also see this same concept in Israel. McDonald’s tries to reel in the host country customers, so in Israel McDonald’s, introduced the MCfalefel sandwich, also providing strictly kosher products. France is known for their elegant taste in pastries, so McDonald’s decided to introduce “Trio of Pastries” to their breakfast menu that accompanies their espresso. (Kim, 2014) In Hong Kong the “Korean McSpicy” was introduced with Korean chili sauce to provide a sense of home cuisine. McDonald's has come up with numerous ways to capture their customers and with each of these ways, a new customer type is captured. They have the ability to cater to the financially conscious, the on-the-go family/person, and have obviously succeeded well in foreign markets by creating a menu that is based off of the culture of the country. Customers know what they want, and embracing and implementing their culture into products is the