The Scope and Challenge of International Marketing

The Scope and Challenge of International Marketing

BUS 343 International Marketing

McDonald’s has been able to effectively reach their targeted audience and started in 1955, in San Bernardino, CA. However, since then it has opened in approximately 119 countries, with over 14,000 restaurants in America and 416 in India and 2,911 in Japan (Statista, 2016). McDonald’s revolutionized fast food by “providing food of consistently high quality and uniform methods of preparation. […] to serve burgers, buns, fries and beverages that tasted just the same in Alaska as they did in Alabama” (McDonalds.com).

McDonald’s chain reached Japan in 1971 (Ginza.kokosil.net, 2017). Although McDonald’s Japan has the traditional McDonald’s menu products like the Big Mac, Chicken McNuggets, McCafe Coffee and the Big Breakfast, it also has unique menu items to appease and target their Japanese audience, such as soups, Teriyaki McBuger, Ginger Burger and Egg Cheese Burger, just to name a few. McDonald’s India, which opened in 1996 (McDonaldsIndia, 2017), has only a few select McDonald’s menu products such as Chicken McNuggets, and Chicken sandwiches. They do not offer beef in their menu due to their culture of not eating beef or pork. Their McDonald’s menu offers a variety of unique menu items such as Veggie Maharaja Mac burgers, and Maharaja Chicken Mac Burger, these are chicken patties replacing the beef in the Big Mac.

The controllable element that McDonald’s has encountered entering the global market are similar to those in their domestic market. The controllable elements usually are the marketing mix (the 4p’s) which consist of price, place, products and promotion. The McDonald’s name and image has entered everyone’s home reaching millions of consumers, everyone knows the McDonald’s name. Therefore, in order for a franchisee to be considered to open McDoanld’s internationally, the franchisee must ensure to stay true to the McDonald’s name, logo, colors, and image and to be able to share McDonald’s value’s, and commitment to bringing the experience to other countries internationally.

There are elements that are considered uncontrollable. Prior to entering an international market, the company must ensure they do their research on the economic, cultural & religious forces, as well as the level of technology and actively evaluate and if needed to adapt to their surroundings a (Cateora, 2015). An example is that if McDonald’s, which offer’s beef burgers on their menu, and are considering on marketing to India who does not eat beef or pork for religious and cultural reasons, would that appease the vegetarian’s population in India? Not at all, therefore, the company would need to come up with different strategies to market to the Indian population by coming up with different food items that would entice them.

References:

Cateora, Philip, John Graham, Mary Gilly. International Marketing, 17th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 11/2015. VitalBook file.

Ginza.kokosil.net. (2017, December). The First McDonald?s Restaurant in Japan. Retrieved from https://ginza.kokosil.net/en/place/00001c0000000000000200000016adc8

McDonaldsIndia.net. (2017, December). McDonald’s Leading Global Food Service- McDonalds India. Retrieved from http://www.mcdonaldsindia.net/mcdonalds-india.aspx

McDonalds.com. (2017). McDonald’s Nutrition Calculator | McDonald’s. Retrieved from https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-our-food/nutrition-calculator.html

Statista. (2017, December). McDonald’s: restaurants by country APMEA 2016 | Statistic. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/256049/mcdonalds-restaurants-in-the-emea-region/

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