The Slow Food Movement and Concluding Thoughts

The Slow Food movement began in 1986 on the historical Spanish Steps in Rome as a protest against a McDonald’s. The founders were not concerned that McDonald’s would be competitive with the upscale restaurants frequented by the upper/middle-class, but they feared the safety of little places serving local delicacies. The mission of Slow Food was [...]

McDonald’s in Beijing

The story of McDonald’s in Beijing is a little different than in Japan or Hong Kong. For starters, the first restaurant did not come for another twenty years after the McDonald’s in Japan opened. Also, the conversation turns into one concerning social space. Even truer than in Japan, Beijing consumers do not admire fast food [...]

McDonald’s in Hong Kong

McDonald’s arrived in Hong Kong in 1975. Due to strong cultural views about food, similar to those of the Japanese, the success was surprising. People questioned whether the triumph of the fast food industry meant the local culture was under siege. Anthropologist James Watson set out to find if the food chains were helping to [...]

Cultural Differences: McDonald’s in Japan

When Ray Kroc established McDonald’s in 1955 he founded the restaurant on the basis of providing customers quality, service, cleanliness, and value. The McDonald’s website still boasts these values as part of its core as well as giving back to the communities in which they do business, celebrating achievements while striving to achieve new heights, [...]

Organizational Culture vs. National Culture: The Globalization of McDonald’s

In organizational theory, culture is a commonly researched subject matter. A link is often drawn between a strong organizational culture and dominance in the market place. Culture is shaped by an organization’s unique history and situational growth. It can be defined as the values, beliefs, and expectations more or less shared by the organization’s members. [...]