ETH – 316
Shaiq Rahi Cross-Cultural Perspectives
July 16, 2014
University of Phoenix

Cross-Cultural Perspectives McDonald’s is the largest fast food chain restaurant in the world. Ray Kroc founded the franchise in 1955 in California. The company pride itself on their tasty hamburgers and delicious french-fries. McDonald’s is also known for its quick service and its drive through. The company went from one restaurant location, to locations in different states, to a global corporation. McDonald’s continue to thrive on providing meals at a low-cost to customers. McDonald’s have more than 30,000 restaurant locations in more than 100 countries around the world. McDonald’s makes billions of dollars each year but they still issues in the global sector (McDonald’s, 2011). McDonald’s established their first restaurant in Japan in 1971 (McDonald’s, 2011). This establishment brought about some issues because of the cultural differences. Some of the issues are food preparation, food organization, and food delivery. Even though McDonald’s way of doing business contradicted with the Japanese ethics, and traditions, through compromise, and social responsibility they have managed to minimize their differences. Besides McDonald’s other businesses have expanded globally such as, auto companies like Ford Motor Company. However, their approach was different in comparison to McDonald’s.
McDonald’s Cultural Issues in Japan: Food organization The Japanese are known for preparing home cooked meals. Besides home cooked food preparation, the way it is design is also very important. According to Megan “Obentos are boxed lunches Japanese mothers make for their nursery school children. Japanese has a code for food preparation; the lunches are intricately arranged and have cultural order and meaning” (2009). The meaning behind the way this particular meal was arranged is mimicking that the world was design precisely and Japanese are responsible to carry out this tradition. A Japanese meal has more meaning than just food it also shows the role of each citizen. Food preparation was a woman’s responsibility. McDonald’s way of preparing food went against the Japanese traditions, and beliefs (Megan, 2009). Additionally, because McDonald’s did not support the Japanese customs it created conflict. They were criticize and frowned upon by many Japanese. Initially they offered only American style food at the Japan location. Shortly thereafter, McDonald’s was force to change the way they did business. They started incorporating some of the Japanese food traditions in their menu. Megan stated that “McDonald’s restaurants experimented with different food items such as Chinese fried rice, curried rice with chicken, and fried egg burgers” (2009). This proves that even in the global sector McDonald’s stand by their commitment to exceed customer expectation.
McDonald’s Cultural Issues in Japan: Takes away from the table Not only did McDonald’s had to be concerned about the Japanese preference in their taste of food, and the way it is organize, there was another major concern. Japanese saw McDonald’s as an organization that was attempting to take away their tradition of eating at the table. To the Japanese food meant bringing people together for a sense of community. This tradition kept the family together and gave everyone an opportunity to socialize, and bond. The first McDonald’s restaurant in Japan was develop to provide customers with food on the go. Therefore, there were no tables or seats instead there were counters (Megan, 2009). McDonald’s quickly responded to this issue by gradually including table and chairs in their layout. However, there are more counters and stools in most restaurants, but at least they currently have the option to dine together as a family at a table and enjoy their meals. Again, McDonald’s proved that their customers are most important and that they will always try to fulfill their needs (Megan, 2009).
Ethical perspectives and comparisons in the global organization The Japanese saw McDonald’s invasion from an ethical standpoint. They saw it as more important for them to uphold their customs and morals than to follow the new trend. They stood firm on what they believed in forcing McDonald’s to alter the way they do business. However, McDonald’s were not the only one to alter their traditions. Japanese also modified their customs to support McDonald’s. This shows that even in the global economy compromise and social responsibility is very important. If organizations and people work together, they can make a difference. McDonald proved that they have ethical values within their organization by respecting the Japanese tradition enough to make several changes. Ford Motor Company is also a global organization with dealerships in countries worldwide. Ford is known for its big trucks by local and international customers. In 2004, Ford displayed new models of Ford, such as the Explorer and the Expedition in Japan and Europe (Wilson, 2008). The Japanese responded better to Ford’s new models of vehicles, but the Europeans were not as enthused. Ford failed to realize that Europeans roads are smaller than Americans roads so a large vehicle would not be as effective as a small vehicle. Initially, Ford resisted the idea to redesign their vehicles and instead they came out with smaller vehicles like the Focus. They temporarily lost their edge whiles they came up with new ideas, which resulted in a loss in revenues from the European sector (Wilson, 2008).
McDonald’s Global Report McDonald’s has managed to exceed their own expectations. There is a McDonald’s restaurant location in almost every continent. Beside the United Stated Europe has the largest number of McDonald’s restaurant. They currently have more than 6,400 locations in Europe. The company currently generate more revenue from European sales that any other continent followed by the United States sale. In 2007 they made more than nine billion dollars in Europe alone. McDonald’s continues to expand in the global sector and is still the number one and largest fast food chain in the world (McDonald’s, 2011).
Conclusion
McDonald’s is the largest fast food chain in the world. Beside this fact, it faces setbacks because of cultural differences. However, McDonald’s have never backed down for the challenge to get people from over the world to become loyal customers. They always have managed to find new ways to keep their customers attention. They have altered the traditional way they do business to incorporate different culture in their menu, depending on the location. In Japan, they created new menu items that included rice to honor the Japanese tradition. The Japanese food symbolizes a code of ethics and moral (Megan, 2009). Regardless of the challenges throughout the years, McDonald’s continue to thrive and has kept their commitment to exceed customer expectation. Through compromise and social responsibility, McDonald’s continues to be a success in Japan. Unfortunately, initially, this was not the case for Ford Motor Company completely failed to deliver what the Europeans needed on time, which resulted in a loss on revenue.

References
McDonald’s. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/home.html
Megan. (2009). Cultural Differences: McDonald’s in Japan. Retrieved from http://bucknellorgtheory09.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/cultural-differences-mcdonalds- in-Japan/
Wilson, A. (2008). Going Global. Retrieved from http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199- 7056/Going-global-Ford-borrows-platforms.html