Cross-Cultural Perspectives the Company That I Am

Cross-Cultural Perspectives

The company that I am researching is McDonalds. McDonalds has expanded around the world and brings with it service standards and food standards that exemplify the brand. For the company, the cultural issue relates to many aspects of service in foreign countries. Dietary restrictions are one in particular that the company needs to address -- in some places people do not eat pork while in other places people do not eat beef. There are also environmental issues where the company is using beef from ranchland that came from deforestation -- in countries like Brazil, for example. The company also faces ethical problems with respect to its role in childhood obesity, a concern of some in Western markets. Overall, McDonalds has to address ethical issues around the world that stem from difference between the different cultures.

Cultural Issue

McDonalds must meet the expectations of culture wherever it operates, and this entails a number of issues. To this end, McDonald's must have a combination of standards that will help it to grow its business, and the ability to be flexible with its menus and its staffing, not to mention approaches to other issues of cultural sensitivity. To this end, McDonalds needs to come up with a plan that melds the local responsibility with the global responsibility. This plan can then be used to help guide the company's decision-making with respect to these sorts of ethical issues.

Social Responsibility

Whitehouse (2003) notes that corporate social responsibility has been around for decades, but has generally failed to live up to its promise, at least in terms of the power corporations actually have to make the world a better place. Business, she argues should extend the idea of responsibility to include citizenship, something that encompasses perhaps more. Werther and Chandler (no date) note by taking a broader stakeholder approach, corporations can meet the need of multiple stakeholders, thereby delivering superior outcomes on a lot of different levels.

McDonalds has frequently been the target of activism, and that in turn has made the company more socially and environmentally conscious. The result is that McDonalds have a number of different initiatives ongoing, but that it also sees the stakeholder approach as a means of fining resolution. For example, it meets the needs of customers who have dietary restrictions by making changes to its menus, and tailor food items to the local market.

McDonalds takes the ethical perspective that it must make right actions, and does make an effort to understand the issues, seek counsel with key stakeholders and generally take the time to make a positive contribution. Now, this does not preclude the company from earning profit. Indeed, which the best good McDonalds can do for the environment and some other stakeholders is to shut down operations, that is one tactic that is off the table for McDonalds in its quest to increase its social responsibility.

Ethical Perspectives

By taking a relativist approach to ethics, McDonalds is able to meet the needs of its local audiences, because it is in a position to understand those needs and respond to them. There are other ethical perspectives that could be chosen, however. Some firms might prefer to take the perspective of absolutism, where the companies works around the world with home country ethics. This approach allows for greater consistency in the operations of McDonalds, and keeps its operations within the bounds of U.S. law. However, the approach of following just one code is difficult to reconcile with global operations.

Across Cultures

One of the biggest issues that companies face with international business is corruption, and to be sure this is something that McDonalds deals with, because it operates in so many countries. The approaches to corruption -- and even its definition -- are subject to the whims of the people. In this case, with corruption, there are dramatically different global standards. What may be perceived positively in one country could be perceive negatively in another, especially if there are major cross-cultural differences.

It is important when working across cultures to have a baseline ethical standard that can be adapted and applied the international context. It is also important that the company has an approach that allows it to understand the issues in every country in which it operates. This is important especially in the service business where you have to meet the needs of the local population while at the same time delivering a standardized business on which your customers count.

As the result of being a global corporation, McDonalds must begin with e global framework. That global framework will define the best ways to deal with situations. Take for example the issue of treating workers well. In some countries, worker in a fast food restaurant would make very little -- much less even than they would make in America. The issue of corporate citizenship therefore arises. In this case, the corporate citizenship would be to weigh the different options with respect to throw much the workers get paid. Do you pay them at the same as the U.S., or just the local rate. In this case, McDonalds does tend to rely on local standards, as it feels that by focusing on local standards it can come up with locutions are evident.