Cross Cultural Ethical Perspectives
Cross-Culture Ethical Perspectives
Amanda Bravo, Mary Malone, Doneice Johnson, Jose Robledo, Kanosha Mitchell,
Josephine Johnson
ETH/316
September 24, 2012
Bette Bellefeuille
Cross-Culture Ethical Perspectives
Globalization is common in most large organizations as they thrive to maximize revenue and expand customer base by establishing operations in different countries and within different cultures. Consequently, these organizations have to consider cultural perspectives of the country in which that plan to operate. McDonald’s, established in 1954 by Ray Kroc in conjunction with the McDonalds brothers and with over 30,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries, is one of the world’s biggest fast food restaurant chains employing 1.7 million people” (McDonalds, 2010-2012). This organization is no different and has to face issues resulting from globalization such as dietary preferences or needs from culture to culture or country to country as well as religion as it relates to its advertising and such..
A good example of the aforementioned was faced in India where currently McDonald’s operates 123 restaurants (India Marks, 2011-2012). A large percentage of that population is Hindu or Muslim and Hindus do not eat beef and Muslims do not eat pork. With both types of meat being a large part of their menu, McDonald’s had to reconsider the menu and decided to adapt it by introducing 100% vegetarian burgers and more than half of their menu being vegetarian (India Marks, 2011-2012). This has helped McDonald’s be successful in that country.
McDonald’s does takes cross-culture issue serious and in one particular incident maybe too serious. In 2010 McDonald’s had launched a new line of promotional soft toys in Singapore which entailed a 12-character Doraemon set depicting the animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar. Because McDonald’s did not want to offend Muslims, they decided not to include the pig character in the line of toys and replaced it with a cupid
Amanda Bravo, Mary Malone, Doneice Johnson, Jose Robledo, Kanosha Mitchell,
Josephine Johnson
ETH/316
September 24, 2012
Bette Bellefeuille
Cross-Culture Ethical Perspectives
Globalization is common in most large organizations as they thrive to maximize revenue and expand customer base by establishing operations in different countries and within different cultures. Consequently, these organizations have to consider cultural perspectives of the country in which that plan to operate. McDonald’s, established in 1954 by Ray Kroc in conjunction with the McDonalds brothers and with over 30,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries, is one of the world’s biggest fast food restaurant chains employing 1.7 million people” (McDonalds, 2010-2012). This organization is no different and has to face issues resulting from globalization such as dietary preferences or needs from culture to culture or country to country as well as religion as it relates to its advertising and such..
A good example of the aforementioned was faced in India where currently McDonald’s operates 123 restaurants (India Marks, 2011-2012). A large percentage of that population is Hindu or Muslim and Hindus do not eat beef and Muslims do not eat pork. With both types of meat being a large part of their menu, McDonald’s had to reconsider the menu and decided to adapt it by introducing 100% vegetarian burgers and more than half of their menu being vegetarian (India Marks, 2011-2012). This has helped McDonald’s be successful in that country.
McDonald’s does takes cross-culture issue serious and in one particular incident maybe too serious. In 2010 McDonald’s had launched a new line of promotional soft toys in Singapore which entailed a 12-character Doraemon set depicting the animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar. Because McDonald’s did not want to offend Muslims, they decided not to include the pig character in the line of toys and replaced it with a cupid
References: India Marks. (2011-2012). What you can and can 't get at McDonald 's in India. Retrieved from http://www.indiamarks.com/what-you-can-cant-get-mcdonalds-india/ Loh, Larry. (2010). McDonald’s frantic backpedaling: The pig toy fiasco. http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/none/mcdonalds-pig-toy-fiasco-371923 McDonald 's. (2010-2012). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en/contact_us/faq.html “Old MacDonald’s has some smarts in China” Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times News Group. 2006. Retrieved September 23, 2012 from HighBeam Research: http:/www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-2791332.html Watson, J. L.(2006) China’s Big Mac attack. In J. Johnson (Ed.), Global Issues, Local Arguments. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education