Mcdonald's Corporation

The popular chain McDonald’s is the #1 fast food company in over 100 countries.   The fast food restaurants serve over 56 million customers daily (NYSE: MCD). These restaurants are operated as franchisees, affiliates, or the corporation itself.   No matter how the restaurants are managed they are all known for Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, and Chicken McNuggets.
The history of the golden arches began in 1940, San Bernardino, California by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald. The name McDonald’s was initially trademarked on May 4, 1961 and in the same year the company filed a logo trademark on double arched "M" symbol. Later in September 6, 1962, the trademark was filed for a single arch. The famous yellow arch continues to be used in all McDonald’s.
McDonald’s took in off global popularity by opening in the following order: Costa Rica, Panama, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, France, El Salvador and Sweden. McDonald's has become an exemplary of globalization. The Economist magazine uses the "Big Mac Index": the comparison of a Big Mac's throughout the world. As, of July 2008, Norway leads with the most expensive Big Mac, whilst Malaysia offers the cheapest.
Some observers have suggested that the company should be given credit for increasing the standard of service in markets that it enters. The impact McDonalds has had on East Asia has been extremely incredible. A study titled Golden Arches East has shown a parallel of increase for the demand of quality throughout Eastern Asia, especially Hong Kong.
In 1975 Hong Kong’s McDonalds was the first restaurant to consistently offer clean restrooms. Customers began to demand the same quality for other restaurants, institutions, and businesses. The corporation is even taking advantage of China’s growth of vehicles being used in drive-thru restaurant. The corporation has recently joined in a partnership with China’s second principal oil company, Sinopec. McDonalds has leaped from small cities to large cities.... [continues]

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