Mcdonald's Global Presence and Cultural Issues

McDonald’s is a global fast food restaurant chain which can trace it’s roots back to humble origins. Originally started in 1940 as McDonald’s Bar-B-Q by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, the restaurant was eventually bought out by Ray Kroc, the founder of the modern McDonald’s Corporation. Kroc was originally a franchisee who became a pioneer of the fast food industry by aggressively expanding the business into all parts of the country and the globe until his death in 1984. Today there are over 34,000 McDonald’s restaurants in 119 countries. The company employs over 1.8 million people and serves approximately 69 million people each day. During the last quarter of 2012, McDonald’s had net income of $1,396,100,000. McDonald’s is in Stage 6 of the internationalization process, they routinely make direct investments (opening company owned stores) in foreign countries, as well as grant franchises to independent owners. McDonald’s is definitely a global company. Although they operate and oversee thousands of restaurants in over one hundred countries, they are still very much based in the U.S. About one third of all their restaurants are located here in the United States and the McDonald’s corporate headquarters is located in Oak Brook, Illinois. They are a publicly traded company and are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. I was not able to find details about McDonald’s expatriate system, but a small section on their corporate website described their “Global Mobility” program which gives an opportunity for managers and executives to “experience working and living in a new global location.” Although no details are offered, based on the size and global breadth of the company it would be impossible for them NOT to have a very organized expatriate system. It would be very difficult to break into new markets, manage company owned stores, and to help new franchisees with the development of their business without “boots on the ground”.

With such a long