What difficulties do the cultural differences cause in enterprise management, and how can firms cope with these difficulties and reap benefits from cultural diversity? Intercultural management aims at improving intercultural interactions at work. These improvements are valued thanks to the technical and economic performance of multicultural teams, but the subjective experience is also important. Intercultural management consists in building articulations between people who have different cultures to play down the negative consequences of cultural differences and benefit from the resources offered by each culture. Intercultural management is also the study and the management of the international exchange of management tools. In fact, management tools are not universal and objective. They spread a specific conception of the company, so much so that there are as many tools as enterprises. Intercultural management must adapt modalities to localities, and make sure that the tools are understood and well-used by the people concerned.
[...] 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. [...]
[...] Let us take the example of India once again: the local strategy is based on vegetarian menus, such as Maharajah Burger, to get along with the population's religious and culinary practices. It is the same for North Africa where McDonald's does not serve pork in its hamburger, but more fish and chicken instead. As McDonald's tries to be a religion for everyone, it has to live in harmony with those existing. Then McDonald's has to fit in the culinary tradition. [...]
[...] In 1995 the McDonald's strategy showed its limits: the number of franchises was so great that there was competition between franchised restaurants. Too many franchises had been granted, threatening the future of the firm. The beginning of the 21st century has revealed how bad the brand is going, being the target of many people but for different reasons: unhealthy food, no ecological practices (plastic bags deforestation resulting of the huge demand in beef, and so on. Moreover, the brand is in general the target of people against Americanism. [...]
[...] The new strategy of the firm is to make McDonald's a worldwide brand without nationality. Nowadays, almost each country has at least one McDonald's restaurant and for each culture, the firm has adapted its menus, the design of its restaurants, the way to communicate with local population The best example is revealed by the obsession of McDonald's headquarters to be the official sponsor of the Olympic Games in Beijing. What can be more worldwide than the Olympics? Think global with huge operations to promote the brand with the same name everywhere and act local by becoming part of each culture. [...]
[...] Golden Arches grow throughout Asia, Pacific, Middle East and Africa Managing an area as large as APMEA (McDonald's acronym for the regions of Asia, Pacific, Middle East and Africa) comes down to handling the strategic direction and needs of each individual country, according to Marvin Whaley, president of McDonald's Asia, Middle East and Africa. Whaley recently announced his plans to retire at the end of this year after 32 years of service. He will be replaced by Tim Fenton, who previously was president of McDonald's U.S. [...]
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