McDonald's in Japan

Despite McDonald’s presence all over the world and their varying menus that adapt to each country’s consumers, they continue to hold an all American value to their brand. In an article I read in BusinessWeek, the September 2006 issue, there was an article written about McDonald’s in Japan and how the CEO Harada, the former CEO of apple, came on board to fight falling sales in its “2nd biggest market, after the US.” The author of the article, Ian Rowley, analyzes Harada’s strategy to rebuild the McDonalds brand image via pricing, new sandwiches, and “fancier menus.” This overall strategy to rebuild McDonald’s image is an effort to retain customers who are now less concerned about price and more concerned about quality.

In my opinion, it would be extremely difficult to play off McDonalds as being a high quality restaurant when years of building a cheap fast food alternative has generated their success.Instead, they should focus on differentiating itself from the convenience stores that produce high sales in this industry. Not once in the article, was it mentioned that people in Japan were becoming more health conscious. I would think the McDonalds unhealthy menu would be the reason for their decline in sales. In the article, Rowley mentions that Harada introduces new food options such as the shrimp burger and new salad plates to create a higher quality image that proved successful at a $5 price, inconsistent with their cheap fast food image. Aside from adding upscale food items, McDonald’s is adding internet access in their restaurants and redecorating their interiors and menus. Clearly McDonald’s must adjust their brand images based on the countries they are in. The differences in culture, consumer tastes, and spending behavior vary in each country. In the US, as people are becoming more and more concerned about what they eat and what their kids eat, McDonald’s is introducing healthier food options but still retains its fast, convenient, and cheap food image. In Japan, cheap food is no longer attractive, rather people want unique and fancy food.

-Shauny Lamba