McDonalds is the words largest fast food corporation, serving more than 57 million people in 119 countries daily with more than 31,000 restaurants worldwide in which 6,899 are owned by company and 20,499 are operated as franchise and 3,960 are operated by affiliates. These figures alone are evidence that globalization is a very important goal for this business. McDonald’s company mission is to improve their social and environmental performance, and work towards a sustainable future. McDonald’s global strategy is called “Plan to Win”, in which the company centers on People, Products, Place, Price, and Promotion (About McDonald's. 2010). This strategy has earned them the number one place in global foodservice retailers. As with all companies, globalization can be impacted by both external and internal sources. With McDonald’s now found worldwide, the sheer number of external influences that can affect the management team rises exponentially. With international business, the management team must look at different cultures, different advertising strategies, different economies, and possibly even different product lines to entice customers from many different countries. This can put an extreme amount of pressure on a management team to make sure that all four functions are adapted to the location of the business. With each location in a global environment, the strategy of planning, organizing, leading and controlling, would have to adapt to each site. This means that from the executive level, to the front line managers, there must be policies and procedures in place to keep the business running smoothly.
As a method to keep costs low, McDonald’s maintains their production strategies when they enter new countries but frequently adapts product choices and service to the predominant practices of the hosting country. McDonald’s was one of the first companies to value the importance of local cultural