Golden Arches East Essays

“I’m lovin’ it” (mcdonalds.com) is the motto for McDonalds. I can remember watching the commercials on my television and wanting to eat McDonalds. Going to McDonalds was my favorite place to eat as a kid. I loved the salty fries and the prize you would get in a happy meal and I would beg my parents to take me so I could get them. When I was little they had the slide and ball pit, which I absolutely loved to play in. As I got older I started to learn about different cultures and I was always curious how the American businesses impacted other countries. I always knew that McDonalds made a ginormous impact in America. Every kid wants a meal from McDonalds but I would wonder if children in other countries would crave McDonalds meals like Americans

McDonalds has always been able to face the challenges that arise when trying to expand to foreign cultures. They have successfully expanded to over a hundred countries, including countries in East Asia. In the book “Golden Arches East” by James L. Watson, he studies different cities and how McDonalds has played a role in their cultures. Three places that he mentioned in his writing were Beijing, Seoul and Japan. They all share similarities in the way the culture was impacted positively and negatively, in society and politically. They have their differences in the way things were dealt with and how the public viewed the American company coming to their countries. In this paper, I will be talking about how McDonalds is involved in the

When someone hears the word “McDonald’s,” they may automatically associate it with various descriptions and words such as American food, hamburgers, french fries, and chicken nuggets. Others may assume that McDonald’s is only famous in the United States, but what they do not know is that McDonald’s expanded their success outside of its origin to over 100 countries around the world. In the novel, Golden Arches East, the author, James L. Watson, focused on the company’s expansion in East Asia and studied how the American culture and traditions of McDonald’s influenced the Asian countries and their people.

Despite McDonald’s excellent global strategy and localization they do face controversy. From the first time McDonald’s opened its doors in 1972, policymakers and the media was concerned about the impact the fast-food would have on the French culture. This controversy kept the company in the pubic eyes. So, when the World Cup finals was held in France, French citizens protest when McDonald’s became the official food. They believed it is too symbolic to America. McDonald’s is an easy target as everyone around the world know what McDonald’s is. Also, it is known to be an icon of capitalism. The company internationally is symbolized as “all to American”, therefore is a huge target for protest.

Since the late 1800s, Chinese immigrants have come to our country bringing with them a rich culture, that not only included art and poetry but they brought with them their very unique style of cuisine. Chinese food has had a unique influence on American cuisine, with over 40,000 restaurants across the United States, there are more Chinese restaurants in America than all the McDonald's Burger King's and KFC's combined. The Chinese culture has truly made a huge imprint on the American food industry.

The article I would like to discuss is “McDonald's in Seoul: Food Choices, Identity, and Nationalism” by Sangmee Bak. I chose this article because I found it very interesting and a very good example of globalization. Globalization can be defined as “the development and proliferation of complex, interdependent international connections created through the movement of capital, natural resources, information, culture, and people across national borders” (Oxford Bibliographies). Essential globalization is the interconnected sharing of goods and ideas between nations. This comes into play in this article with the incorporation of an iconic American restaurant, McDonald’s, in Korea. In this article, Bak describes his ethnographic study of the effect of the incorporation of McDonald’s in the Korean culture. I found that the ethnography was executed well and did a good job of identifying the role McDonald’s played in this culture.

In the book of “The Mcdonaldization of Society” by a sociologist George Ritzer, the term Mcdonaldization is used. Mcdonaldization occurs when a business such as Ikea, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Wal-mart, Bed bath and beyond, etc. possesses the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant, like McDonalds. Max Weber used the word “bureaucracy” to represent the direction of Mcdonaldization changing the society; with today’s present society, the concept of Mcdonaldization is gaining in consideration of different aspects, such as a culture. The cultural version of a McDonaldization thesis is the recent idea of the world wide homogenization of cultures. The process of it could be summarized in a way in which the fast food principles, are dominating more and more sectors of American society, and as well as of the rest of the world.

“With more than 36,000 local restaurants serving approximately 69 million people in more than 100 countries each day,” McDonald’s has come a long way from a Bar-B-Q restaurant (History of McDonald’s). James Watson, along with the other contributors, in the book Golden Arches East clearly portrays how the introduction of McDonald’s has had a social and cultural impact on five East Asian cities through globalism, transnationalism and localization. Three of the five cities Watson focuses on were Beijing, Seoul and Japan; each of these cities had similarities and differences in how their daily lives were impacted and how one population reacted differently than the other to these changes. The establishment of McDonald’s worldwide, in local areas, has been actively involved in cultural transformations, creating the trends of emerging changes and is a clear example of an American-inspired, transnational culture crowding out indigenous cultures.

“...McDonaldization,...is the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world. (Ritzer, 1993).

Food is an important cultural element. Globalization has led to a spread of such cultural elements all around the world. Fast food chains like McDonald’s have spread to different countries like India, Pakistan, China etc. McDonaldization has taken place. This paper rhetorically critiques different advertisements and the official website of McDonald’s in India and USA. It also talks about the differences and similarities in the approach taken by McDonald’s in these two countries. India and USA are two very different cultures. Introduction of McDonald’s in a country like India was a challenge that McDonald’s successfully completed. They changed their marketing strategies, menus, websites and restaurants according to the region in which they were situated.

The golden arcs have explored the world, with McDonald’s known to be the international face of hamburgers around the world. The golden arcs have been seen in the Netherlands to South Africa to Uruguay and many more places. McDonald’s is all over the world, and with this advantage they have been smart to relate to what is considered a norm in the respectable nation they work in. “In this era of globalization, it is becoming increasingly important for businesses to leverage their brand equities across geographic boundaries” (Harish 22). McDonald’s does a great job by displaying them in different countries for their consumers because of the mission each McDonald’s is always to strive in their business for: Quality, Service, Convenience, and Value. McDonald’s is such a powerful company in the fast food industry that the China Puzzle reported that “In Hong Kong, 72 percent of people visit McDonalds, on average once a week” (China Puzzle 639). The article explained that this is McDonald’s most “penetrated and mature markets in the world.” The reason why that number is so high for McDonald’s is because the core targets young adults who look to be “cool” and stay up to date with all the big trends such as the Chicken Nuggets with different sauces in a random calendar.

One of McDonald’s biggest cultural differences they encountered while expanding into countries other than the United States was some of their well-known and popular menu items were unacceptable to other populations. After 4 years of planning, in 1995, in order to open its first location in India, McDonald’s took the initiative to meet with and interact with Indian locals Amit Jatia's (

Articles on the international strategies of McDonald’s seem to function on several fields to guarantee lucrative returns for the organisation.  To illustrate, the organisation improves on establishing a positive mind-set from their core consumers.  McDonald’s indulge a particular variety of consumers with definite types of personalities. ( 1994) It has also been noted that the company have given the markets such as the United Kingdom, an option with regards to their dining needs.  (2005) pointed out that McDonald’s has launched a sensibly valued set of food that tenders a reliable level of quality for the respective market where it operates.  Additionally, those who are aged just below the bracket of thirty-five are said to be the most frequent consumers of McDonald’s franchises. ( 2005)

McDonald’s is a fast-food legend that gives its consumers a chance to experience it delivering inexpensive food with consistent taste regardless of location, quick service, and a clean familiar environment. The key elements that McDonald’s use envolve both global and local elements. McDonald’s offers american style hamburgers in most of its restaurants around the world and the group people who are consuming this food is growing everday and including its french fries too. McDonald’s tries to sell its products in the same

The first McDonald’s restaurant was run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. There are now 36,258 McDonald’s restaurants in 119 countries, of which 29,544 are franchised serving over 69 million customers every day. Ray Kroc who was an American Businessman and philanthropist who joined McDonald’s and made it into the most successful fast food operations in the world. “Kroc ... believed fervently in the ethic of mass production” (E, Schlosser, 2004). It is a multinational corporation which has changed its organizational