The Challenges And Strategies Used By Mcdonald To Enter The Indian Market

By Author: Sherry Roberts
Total Articles: 81
Comment this article

Introduction:
McDonald is among the leading multinational fast food dealer. In 1996, McDonald entered India as it expanded the provision of its products. The fast food in India was young at that time and McDonald encountered several challenges in securing a market for its food. The fast food company developed a number of strategies that made it the leading fast food business in India in 2011. McDonald faces stiff competition from multinational firms as well as local food retailers (Hitt, 2012). McDonald revolutionized food retail in India as it introduced Indians to the western service standards. The positioning of the McDonald as a family restaurant contributed to its success.
Strategies used by McDonald in penetrating the Indian market:
The first strategy that McDonald used in order to access the Indian market was its timely entry. The firm entered India when the market was opening up, and the Indian economy was growing rapidly (Hitt, 2012). Most of the Indians perceived foreign products to be of high quality thus they were eager to use new products and services. The time that McDonald entered India was favorable ...
... as Indians were supporters of globalization. In order to colonize the Indian market, the McDonald adopted diverse marketing strategies. The firm tried to understand the culture and the beliefs of the people of India (Gasparro, 2012). Majority of Indian people are vegetarians thus McDonald changed it product line. The company came up new lines of vegetarian products that were the preference of the people. The firm emphasized on adapting to the people's tastes, lifestyles, and perception. Similarly, the company adopted targeting, positioning and segmentation strategy in its efforts to penetrate the Indian market. The company segmented the population according to age, and it targeted the children, youths and young families living in towns. It used attractive outlets that attracted children and teenagers making MacDonald a fun place to have meals. In addition, McDonald positioned itself in the minds of its customers by using Indian slogans such as `McDonald mein Hai Kuch Baat’, as well as attractive pictures. The firm also applied pricing strategies as it was aware of the Indian customers pricing sensitivity. It used aggressive prices for several of its products in order to attract the children and the youth. Similarly, McDonald convinced the authorities that its products had no beef or pork in it (Gasparro, 2012). It suited most of its products such as burgers to the Indian tastes. The introduction of budget meals and breakfast combos meals played a crucial role in penetrating the market.
Challenges:
McDonald encountered several challenges in its entry in the Indian market. Majority of the Indians are vegetarians while most of its products contained beef and pork. The firm’s entry into India met stiff opposition (Berger, 2003). Members of Hindu organization protested against the presence of McDonald in their country and in 2001, they attacked several of its branches. They demolished its restaurant in Thane, and they smeared the restaurant in Bombay with cow dung. Another challenge was the diversity and complexity of the Indian population. Indians practice a variety of religions ranging from Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Jainism to Christianity. These religions have diverse beliefs and values that influence the people's preference for food. The Hindu religion that makes the largest proportion of the Indian population prohibits non-vegetarian food (Berger, 2003). McDonald had had a problem in considering all these diverse values.

References:
Berger L, Samuel P. (2003) Many Globalizations: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World (pg96) Oxford University Press, USA
Gasparro, A., & Jargon, J. (2012, September 5). MacDonald's to Go Vegetarian in India. Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition. p. B7
Hitt (2012) Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases: Competitiveness and Globalization (pg214) Cengage Learning, USA

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in online nursing papers. If you need a similar paper you can place your order for a custom research paper from legitimate research paper writing service services.