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China and indeed all of Asia, and the European community present any eager corporation with a potentially enormous market but also with the potential for tremendous losses. Although some Asian and European labor and building costs may be comparatively inexpensive the complex bureaucratic structure of doing business within different cultural and political system of governance may generate more headaches than profits, as an American firm finds itself faced with different expectations regarding working hours, benefits, and contracts. This does not mean, although, that Jerry's Sealwrap should completely eschew advancement into the Asian and European market. Simply by being an 'American' firm, Sealwrap might generate interest. In Japan, packaging, even of gifts, is extremely important on a cultural level, often transcending the importance of the gift itself. From a marketing perspective, this is one way to generate interest in this particular product. In general, a firm must position the product's entire, not necessarily how it is positioned within the American market, but in a way that will be attractive to that nation's consumer base.

Consider McDonald's, the most ubiquitous face of American franchising. McDonald's has met with tremendous worldwide success in Asia. By perceiving that individuals are buying a bit of America, with every bite of a burger, the hamburger purveyor has generated a solid customer base. This mimics the original success of McDonald's in Soviet then capitalist Russia, during the early years of that nation's extracting itself from the hold of communism. Rather than being perceived as a negative nutritional force, as it might be in many American quarters today, the company was able to initially succeed in the Russian capital of Moscow by taking on an entirely different image. It positioned itself along the lines of a luxury product that, by engaging in conspicuous consumption at the American franchise establishment, to use Veblen's terms, one showed one's transnational verve and one's willingness to defy the regime in a chic fashion.

In the Russia of the late 1980's and early 1990's, eating at McDonald's became a political statement of one's international status and freedom. For Russians, because of the expense of eating at the fast food emporium, rather than driving through and rushing away, as was popular amongst American consumers, the point was to go, to eat, and be seen eating there. Thus, the product and image was different, but saleable abroad. Also, because of the fierce standardization of its working protocols and preparations of goods, McDonald's was able to cushion some of the initial conflicts experienced by other corporations, such as GE, shortly after they entered Eastern Europe, between capitalist and 'planned' economies -- such as working hours, employee productivity expectations, etc. Working at McDonald's even had a kind of prestige, during those early transitional years, lacking in