Expanding a Fast-Food Business Internationally (Essay Sample)

Expanding a Fast-Food Business Internationally
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Expanding a Fast-Food Business Internationally
Introduction
As a business grows and wants to expand its operations into new markets in foreign countries, there are various considerations which have to be made to ensure that it succeeds. Perhaps the most important aspect to consider is the local culture and beliefs in the foreign nation. This is because different countries and its people have different cultures, customs, beliefs, values and attitudes that are unique to their nation and different from that of the firm’s home country. These differences affect consumer behavior, including situations where consumers in a certain country may never buy a product, because their beliefs or cultural values prohibit its consumption. In light of the foregoing, this paper discusses considerations that should be made in expanding a US-based fast-food franchise to United Arab Emirates, Israel, Mexico and China.
Part 1: Cultural Considerations
United Arab Emirates, Israel, Mexico and China have different social and religious values and cultures, which different from those in the United States. The differences affect a wide range of consumer aspects with regard to the fast-food business. The management should make several considerations if the business is going to succeed in the new locations.
To start with, the management should consider the different food preparation procedures and preferences in the respective countries. To this end, it is worth noting that recipes vary from location to location. For example, when preparing a hamburger in Mexico, there are some additions that you put, which may not be acceptable in China, and vice versa. This includes spices which vary from place to place, and culture to culture. This is also true with regard to eating habits. The business management should consider the eating habits in each respective country to ensure that the food products do not go against the local people’s beliefs and cultural preferences. For example in China, there is a focus on traditional spices and diet. Islam (predominant in Israel and UAE) and Judaism (dominant in Israel) frown at pork while Buddhism (dominant in China) considers beef unclean. To this end, it would be better to consider understanding the specific dietary preferences and include them in preparing the hamburgers.
Secondly, it is important to understand how employees and customers relate in the new country where the business is expanding to, to avoid conflicts which may affect the business operations (Ni and Alonb, 2010). Understanding the local cultural and social behaviors with regard to employees leads to a good relationships which are good for business. For example, while in the US direct and free relationships between employees and customer are acceptable, in China there is a distinct relationship where employees may not interact as freely as happens in the US. Other considerations to consider with regard to employee-customer interactions include such things as greetings, giving tips, engaging customers in talks among others (Ni and Alonb, 2010).
Thirdly, it is imperative to consider the work attitudes of the local people. How do they perceive work? In Mexico, more mothers are entering the workplace, while in China and UAE women are not so dominant in the workplace due to religious factors. This is important when training the new employees on the business dynamics, as the management is able to know what to include in the training presentations as a way of orienting the employees. It is worth noting that cultural and religious attitudes in UAE, Israel and China are collective, while Mexico is mainly individualistic (Butler, 2012). More emphasis is placed on the common good, rather than the individual, as is the case in the highly capitalist US.
Part 2: Cultural Shock
Defined, cultural shock refers to a scenario where an individual experiences a totally different culture and social establishments in a foreign nation after relocating there. For example, after the managers move from US to Israel, China or UAE, they would experience a culture shock since in the three countries, there are different cultures, including religion (mainly Islam), overcrowding, language and attitudes. One of the best ways to help the managers to deal with the cultural shock is to equip them with sufficient cross-cultural training so that they are able to appreciate cultural diversity. This way, for example, they would be able to understand that cultures are different. In China, for instance, they would be able to appreciate the fact that the Chinese love spicy cuisines, people in the UAE love power distances and dislike uncertainties and Israelis, Chinese and the Arabs believe in collectivism (Butler, 2012), among other aspects. The training would also enable the managers to prepare for such things as informal business wear and many security checks in various parts in Israel, the Mexican culture which is characterized by social civility, Spanish language and a relatively slow pace of doing things, and the fact that not every Chinese or Arab knows or loves English. This way, the managers would learn to be non-judgmental when interacting with the people in the respective foreign nations.
Part 3: Legal and E...