Mcdonald's International

McDonald’s

In 1955, a fast food restaurant named McDonald’s was first opened by a Ray Kroc. Little did he know that it was the dawn of a vast empire which would permeate throughout the globe and exert enormous effects on cultures throughout the world. McDonald’s isn’t the only corporation to utilize the globalization of markets for profit while inadvertently influencing unique cultures. Many others dominant players in the food, retail, and entertainment industries have done so as well, but the golden arches are now arguably the most recognizable image in the world. The company is the world’s largest fast food chain with presence in over 120 countries, and the intention of expanding even further. Their 32,000 outlets generated over $20 billion in revenues last year alone. In 2006, the United States was no longer even their largest source of revenue, being narrowly surpassed by the European Union. McDonald’s successfully employs a unique type of corporate strategy, transnational strategy, which allows them to compete through standardization while simultaneously adapting to local customs when deemed necessary and appropriate. The company has an unprecedented level of presence dispersed throughout the world and the demand for their products continues to grow.

Just ten short years subsequent to the first opening of a retail outlet, McDonald’s went public to generate capital for expansion and it has never looked back. Within two years of its initial public offering, McDonald’s reached across the border to Canada to increase its market share. McDonald's restaurants typically offer a standard menu comprised of food items such as egg McMuffins, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, french fries, salads, milk shakes, and desserts. This standard menu is offered throughout the majority of their outlets; however many offer additional food items and remove others in order to cater to local tastes and preferences. More than two thirds of their stores are managed by franchisees, who play a crucial role in facilitating corporate management with customization decisions to appeal to their customer’s dynamic demographical composition. Their “I’m lovin’ it” marketing campaign slogan has transcended the English language and is a hit worldwide. McDonald’s employs almost two million people and serves over 50 million customers each day.

Unfortunately, a company of this magnitude will inherently encounter employment related grievances and McDonald’s has had their fair share in retail outlets as well as at their vertically integrated manufacturing plants. All over the world, attempts at unionization by their workers have failed. McDonald’s has played a somber tone that rings throughout many large conglomerates that put profits in front of people. They pay their employees minimum wage, if there is one, and do not show any compassion for their employees due to their extremely high turnover ratio. They have now surpassed the U.S. Army as America’s largest job trainer. Working at McDonald’s is estimated to be about one in ten Americans first job. McDonald’s likes to emphasize the numerous benefits offered to their U.S. workers such as: stock options, health care plans, pensions, paid holidays, and a company car. However, they downplay the fact that these perks are reserved solely for the senior management. Within their corporate structure it is difficult to rise up through the ranks and few ever make it past the basic crew level. In order to be promoted it takes several years at the bottom rung before an opportunity presents itself. I will concede that they do provide training and education programs because I grew up less than ten miles away from Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois. However, the educational programs are designed for those who are already senior management or franchisees. In order to qualify for the opportunity of purchasing a franchise, one must have already been a manager for a minimum of one year. Ray Kroc once said, “The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization.” Unfortunately, all too often people do trust the organization and a few years down the road they are still struggling to surpass the threshold of poverty. Opportunities for advancement are minimal while the corporation from the top down reverberates the ease of progression and falsely gives hope to many who believe that their aspirations of promotion will come to fruition within a reasonable amount of time.

Although the false representation of the ease of advancement is sadly commonplace among corporations, McDonald’s has committed some egregious errors which cannot be forgiven. For example, in 1992 a worker in the UK was electrocuted to death by a fat filtering machine after several previous instances of employees being shocked by the faulty equipment passed in one ear and out the other of McDonald’s management. They have also crushed workers attempts to unionize throughout Europe. Almost every country within the EU has attempted to establish unions for McDonald’s workers, but not a single one ever prevailed. This can be attributed to the need for unskilled workers. There are enough people without any job specific skills who are willing to jump in and replace workers who are not satisfied with their wages and working environment. The most notable union dispute occurred in Russia at the 100,000 square foot McDonald’s food processing plant known as the McComplex. It began in 1998 when the Asian financial crises spread to Russia and lasted four years. McDonald’s refused to increase wages while inflation was out of control. Work conditions were already unpleasant and the cost cutting exacerbated the health and safety issues. Although the workers were backed by several organizations such as the AFL-CIO, McDonald’s was able to use brute force and intimidation to coerce all of the employees attempting to unionize to quit their jobs. In 1994 the European Union introduced the European Works Council Directive. The EWC was established in order for to ensure that workers of multinational corporations with over 1,000 employees in the EU were adequately informed of employment issues affecting them. As many other MNC’s did, McDonald’s were able to manipulate the election process for the EWC meetings and basically changed them from what was supposed to be a meeting for employees to discuss issues of concern into a managerial type discussion.

Despite their blunders in properly treating personnel, McDonald’s is not necessarily