INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SHOULD RECOGNIZE AND REALIZE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND MAKE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ACCORDINGLY (A Case of McDonald’s in India) MODULE I.D: NAME: I.D: Table of Contents 1: Introduction and research question 3 1.1. Introduction 3 1.2 Research Questions 3 2: Literature awareness 3 2.1 Customer requirement management strategies to mitigate cultural issues 3 2.2 Consumer perception for product development 4 2.3 Identification of cultural differences to develop products and services 4 2.4 Impact of consumer cultural factors in business process 5 3. Empirical content 5 4. Coherence and logic between sections of outline/action plan 6 5. Methodology 6 6. Conclusions Findings 6 References 7 1: Introduction and research question 1.1. Introduction The international business operation requires adopting the cultural values of the region it is operating in order to understand the implications of the consumer needs and requirements and to enhance the business activities on the basis of such factors. According to Adamczyk (2017), the international business operation is concerned with various key factors which involves logistics, marketing, management, distribution and trade practices. Such key factors are precisely managed and operated following the strategic measures in order to meet the consumer and organizational requirements. The purpose of the research is to highlight the customer service and product delivery with keeping in mind the cultural differences in India. 1.2 Research Questions What is the importance of addressing cultural differences of the consumer in the context of international business operation?What are the major challenges and issues that come across while developing products and services in accordance to the cultural differences?What potential strategies are applied by McDonald’s India to develop the products and services while maintaining the cultural differences by an organization? 2: Literature awareness 2.1 Customer requirement management strategies to mitigate cultural issues In terms of developing the products and services as per the requirement of the consumers several challenges and issues occur involving raw materials, consumer requirement management and altering existing business strategies. According to Jiao and Chen (2006), customer requirement management strategies ought to be implemented to avoid cultural complexities and to develop products and services according to the consumer needs. Following the global business operational move the fast-food company, McDonald’s emerged as a potential brand in the Indian fast-food industry. The McDonald’s total revenue in the year 2020 was around 15.48 billion INR (Keelery, 2021). Figure 1: Revenue growth of McDonald’s (Source: Keelery, 2021) 2.2 Consumer perception for product development As per Neeti Kasliwal (2008), consumer behaviour differs in different markets and to meet such objectives, McDonald’s follows the roadmap of global and local initiatives. In order to meet the consumer perception, McDonald’s developed its menus and started introducing services similar to the taste of Indian market. McDonald’s started introducing Aloo Tikki, a burger, roti wrap, maharaja Mac deal and many other food products with Indian spices and ingredients to address the cultural diversity of India (Kannan, 2014). 2.3 Identification of cultural differences to develop products and services Identification of the cultural differences of the potential consumers holds immense importance in international business development. It helps to understand the consumer requirement following which the products and services are developed in accordance to the consumer cultural preferences. As opined by Aymar and Joseph (2019), Customer service is the key factor to business success in international concepts. As stated by Pradhan (2018), The fast-food industry as in McDonald’s have expanded in business in India for the growth. As per the view Anand (2011) cultural differences and customer service of McDonald’s in India is not that much preferable or had gone through any research unlike other countries such as US and UK and many more out there. 2.4 Impact of consumer cultural factors in business process As perceived from Aryana and Boks (2012), consumer user culture shapes and diversity develop the new product development of a company. The globalization, international business expansion and operation has propelled the need to adapt according to the consumer cultural aspects in order to design the new product development (Aryana and Boks, 2012). Relation between the consumer cultural factors and the product of a company requires to have a positive impact to drive the business goals and objectives. For instance, a foreign company dealing with food and beverages and intends to operate in the Asian, per say Indian, market needs to understand the cultural implication and food habit of the people of that region. Therefore while expanding an existing business operation, cultural aspects of the new market consumer serve to be crucial. 3. Empirical content For conducting this research work, primary quantitative and qualitative data collection process to obtain relevant data information. As perceived knowledge from the literature awareness, Impact of culture on product and service acceptance by customers is the dependent variable. Whereas, the independent or explanatory variable is interpreted as the product or service type, demographic attributes, psychographic attributes, economic trends and brand image. For exploring the dependent and the independent variables of the context and to link them, a sample size of 30 potential customers for survey and 4 managers have been approached. 4. Coherence and logic between sections of outline/action plan The action plan of the study has been essential to maintain a detailed timeline of the research work and to complete the study with desired outcome. With the primary qualitative data information the researcher aims to assess the various elements of the study such as to interpret the cultural factors of individuals and its impact on product development. Additionally, the primary quantitative approach has been feasible to obtain factual understanding of the element. Both the primary quantitative and the qualitative method enabled the researcher to acquire data information within targeted time. 5. Methodology For conducting this study the researcher has resorted to the implementation of a primary data collection method to enhance the credible outlook of the study. Following the primary method of data collection, the researcher envisioned conducting interviews of 4 store managers of the McDonald’s and a survey of 30 potential customers. The selected approach of methodology is feasible to maintain the cost and time constraints and assess the cultural aspects of the customers in terms of product development. The selected sample size of survey and the interview participants will be beneficial in meeting the arising research questions of the study. 6. Conclusions Findings From the above discussion it is observed that the cultural implication of the target market of a region plays an important role in shaping a product and service of a company. McDonald’s has emerged as a potential brand in the Indian market by communicating to the needs and requirements of the customers and developing products in conformity with their cultural aspects. References Adamczyk, M. (2017) The importance of cultural differences in international business, [online] Available at: https://www.cerem-review.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cerem_1_2_art_08.pdf (Accessed March 11, 2021). Anand, R. (2011) A study of determinants impacting consumers food choice with reference to the fast food consumption in India, Sardana, G. D. (ed.), Society and Business Review, 6(2), pp. 176–187, [online] Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17465681111143993/full/html?skipTracking=true (Accessed March 10, 2021). Aryana, B. and Boks, C. (2012) New Product Development and consumer culture: a review, International Journal of Product Development, 16(1), p. 45, [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264836157_New_Product_Development_and_consumer_culture_A_review (Accessed March 11, 2021). Aymar, R. and Joseph, E. M. (2019) Customers satisfaction and brand loyalty at McDonalds Maroc, African Journal of Marketing Management, 11(3), pp. 21–34, [online] Available at: https://academicjournals.org/journal/AJMM/article-references/8B2BB2161179 (Accessed March 10, 2021). Jiao, R. J. and Chen, C. H. (2006) Customer Requirement Management in Product Development: A Review of Research Issues, Concurrent Engineering, 14(3), pp. 173–185, [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220116828_Customer_Requirement_Management_in_Product_Development_A_Review_of_Research_Issues (Accessed March 11, 2021). Kannan, S. (2014) How McDonald’s conquered India, BBC News, 19th November, [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30115555 (Accessed March 11, 2021). Keelery, S. (2021) India – annual revenue of McDonald’s operated by Westlife 2017 | Statista, Statista, www.statista.com, [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/818829/india-annual-revenue-of-mcdonald-s-operated-by-westlife/ (Accessed March 11, 2021). Neeti Kasliwal (2008) McDonaldization in India, Research Gate, www.researchgate.net, [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280875209_McDonaldization_in_India (Accessed March 11, 2021). Pradhan, S. (2018) McDonald’s India – plotting a winning strategy, Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 8(2), pp. 1–25, [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325994223_McDonald’s_India_-_plotting_a_winning_strategy (Accessed March 10, 2021).
