McDonald's Corp.

is widely considered to be one of the forerunners of global brand expansion, with its Golden Arches successfully rooted in many corners of the world. The international push began in 1967, when the chain reached north across the border to Canada to open its first store outside the United States. Only a few years later, McDonald's boldly pioneered overseas expansion across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in such far-flung countries as the United Kingdom and Japan. Today a majority of McDonald's 31,500 worldwide restaurants--more than 17,000 of them--are located outside of the United States. Each area of the world has focused on increasing "operational excellence, leadership marketing and innovation" through a variety of global and regionally specific initiatives, officials say. Two years ago, McDonald's introduced its "Plan to Win"--a brand revitalization program built around five drivers of exceptional customer experiences: people, products, price, place and promotion. This plan has been globally embraced, but it's been brought to life locally in ways that are most relevant to customers in their particular parts of the world. For instance, regarding the "Price--P" in the Plan to Win, McDonald's operators around the world have added value in many different ways: the United States features a "Dollar Menu;" Europe offers "Eurosaver" programs; China has the RMB 5 Program; and Latin America features McMenu and McAhorro programs. McMenu offers "everyday value," while McAhorro is a program of special pricing for certain products during certain times of day or on various days of the week. All those initiatives aim to move the brand away from promotions and toward everyday affordability, with the intent of making McDonald's affordable to the broadest number of customers possible, according to the company. McDonald's restaurants in many Middle Eastern markets have continued to operate despite recent conflicts there, Whaley notes. "We have done extremely well in the Middle East," he says. "We have localized all the McDonald's in all the countries." According to Whaley, there have been no attacks on McDonald's stores in the region. The local ownership of restaurants in the region and the employment of local workers prevent McDonald's units from having problems. All restaurants in the region are halal-approved, meaning food is prepared and handled according to the tenets of Islamic law. Regional products in the Middle East market include folded tortilla sandwiches filled with spiced beef, locally known as the McArabia.

In other APMEA markets, chicken is a big seller. McDonald's restaurants in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand serve fried chicken, for example, while McDonald's in other countries serve chicken wings. "We aim to meet the local needs of people wherever we're operating," Whaley says. The widespread outbreaks of avian flu in Southeast Asia in the past few years had minimal impact on chicken sales in the region, he says. But the outbreaks did affect poultry sourcing for the chain. "The impact it had is that countries banned importation of products from other countries," Whaley says, McDonald's responded by changing its typical routes of trade. McDonald's APMEA region has focused in recent years on providing everyday low prices and value in its restaurants, according to Whaley. Each restaurant has a "branded affordability menu," which includes such low-priced items as sandwiches, fries, drinks and desserts. "Our intent is to feature our main products at a great value," he says, noting that the lower-priced menu aims to make McDonald's products more affordable to local residents in every market. Although the sales mix of the sandwiches is not yet available, the product is selling "great," says Bill Johnson, president and CEO of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited. "We're always looking at new innovations." "Deli sandwiches in Canada are already a $2 billion business," he says. "Canadian consumers wanted it, so we gave it to them." Specialty items in Canada include the McLobster, a lobster salad sandwich offered in summer months on the east coast of the country, and Poutine, which features french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds and is offered only in the province of Quebec. McDonald's Canada had 1,362 units by year-end 2004, with 40 to 50 units planned for 2005. McDonald's reported revenues of $898.1 million for its Canada operations in 2004, with operating income of $178 million. While other areas of the world are challenged by war and political unrest, the operational challenges in Canada are mostly weather related. "We have some real extremes here for three or four months of the year," Johnson says. In addition, a unique and essential

operational consideration stems from our national bilingualism, he adds, as every corporate document, voicemail and email has to be translated into both French and English. "People sometimes forget that we're a large, large country with six time zones and many different cultures," Johnson says. While most McDonald's restaurants are within 100 miles of the U.S.-Canada border--where the country's population is most concentrated--the brand has some units in remote markets, such as the Yukon and Northwest Territories, he says. "We have McDonald's north of the 'treeline', in communities where mining and forestry have grown over the years," Johnson says. In addition, the drive-thru is becoming more important to McDonald's business in Canada, as is late-night business. More than 50 percent of units operate 24 hours a day, according to Johnson. COPYRIGHT 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

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"Studying McDonald's abroad: overseas branches merge regional preferences, corporate directives". Nation's Restaurant News. FindArticles.com. 08 Nov, 2011. COPYRIGHT 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning