Case Study on McDonald Success

through Cross-Cultural Adaptation

Question 01: Is it true to say that McDonalds has imposed the home country
culture on the consumers abroad?
Answer: The answer is no. Because, in every country, McDonalds policymakers 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.
McDonalds 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, McDonalds serve mutton
burger instead of beef burger.

Question 02: How are India and China different from the viewpoint of
McDonalds?
Answer: The viewpoint is very simple in case of India. McDonalds identifies
the local culture and make their menu in a way so that it doesnt 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 dont take beef. So, McDonalds (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, McDonalds 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, McDonalds 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, McDonalds 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, McDonalds 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.