UNLOCKING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Routledge
CHAPTER7:ORGANISA CHAPTER7:ORGANISA CHAPTER7:ORGANISA CHAPTER7:ORGANISATIONAL TIONAL TIONAL TIONAL
CULTUREANDCHANGE CULTUREANDCHANGE CULTUREANDCHANGE CULTUREANDCHANGE

Case study: McDonalds changing organisational culture
Organisations are very aware now of cultural differences between different
countriesandregions.YoumaythinkthataBigMacisrelativelysimilarinany
ofthe32,000McDonaldsoutletsinmorethan100countriesasitseemstobe
symbolic of the organisations brand. Indeed, a bun with beef would have
effectivelysummeduptheofferingwhentheorganisationfirststarted.

InFrance,acountrynotpreviouslyknownforitsfast-foodculture,itisknown
asLeBigMacandisstrictlymadewithonlyFrenchbeef.InIndia,wherebeef
is banned in many states, they have their own versions with various chicken
andvegetarianoptions.ThekebabversionismostpopularintheMiddleEast,
and in McDonalds in Israel you would not be able to purchase a milkshake
drinkinakosherbranch.

Theglobalbrandhastransformeditselfsuccessfullytofitinwithlocalcultural
differences and, as local culture has evolved, they have responded
accordingly. A good example of this is the change to more salad-based
offerings in the USA and UK as customer preferences have changed. In the
UKinparticularitisnowpossibletohavefreeWi-Fi,eatfree-rangeeggsand
drink organic milk. This is a long way from the very American beef-eating
outletthatoriginatedinSanBernandinoover70yearsago.

UNLOCKING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Routledge
Questions
1. 1. 1. 1. DoyouthinkthatMcDonaldswouldbeassuccessfulintheUSAtoadyif
theyhadnotrespondedtochangingculturalexpectations?
2. 2. 2. 2. CouldMcDonaldsactuallychangethecultureofacountrybyopeningup
outletsinthatcountry?