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Culture
Effects on International Marketing
Case Study McDonald’s
Definition of Culture
“Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming
from colere, meaning "to cultivate,")
generally refers to patterns of human
activity and the symbolic structures that
give such activities significance and
importance. Different definitions of
"culture" reflect different theoretical
bases for understanding, or criteria for
evaluating, human activity.”

Wikipedia
McDonald’s Marketing
 McDonald’s initially had an ethnocentric
attitude for entering new markets
 Products were standardised
 Centralised marketing and organisational
culture
 Later moved to customisation and local
marketing strategy formulation
Late 90’s Brand Failure
 Health conscious cultures rejected
McDonald’s food types
 Anti-Americanism
 American backlash - Freedom Fries
 Anti-Globalisation movement
Cultural Framework – Terpstra
and Sarathy (2000)
 Language (local language, direct translations
from English could be offensive)
 Religion (anti-Pork & Beef cultures)
 Values and attitudes (anti-American attitude,
health conscious)
 Aesthetics (the brand has standardised the
appearance and look of outlets globally without
appreciation of local customs and dress)
 Law and Politics (advertising restrictions – e.g.
children and obesity; disclosure of nutritional
information)
 Technology and material culture (materialistic
nations might consider that McDonald’s is
“cheap”, developing nations might consider US
brand a status symbol; wireless roll outs to
attract customers)
 Social organisation (“McDonaldisation” – ultrashort-term employment impacts of workforce
legislation; minimum wage)
 Education (McDonald’s University;
governmental health education programs;
requirements low skill workers)
McDonald’s Marketing
 Official Sponsors of 7 consecutive
Olympic games
 Attaching brand logo to major sporting
events
 Agreements with Innocent Smoothies
 Aiming for health conscious and
multicultural brand
 Building a corporate social responsibility
agenda - environmental focus
 Moving away from individualistic culture
towards a collectivistic and the wider
common good
 Engaging children in clean up operations
“Bee Good to the Planet”
Conclusion
 McDonald’s had an ethnocentric attitude
towards Global marketing strategy
 Suffered brand failure due to cultural
issues
 Moved to a locally customised approach
considering cultural differences for
marketing strategy
 Appears to have at the very least
stabilised the brand decline