TS6, November, Friday 29th, 2013
Geography Test – The USA and Globalization
Doc. 1 – Picture of McDonald’s in Chinatown, New York City
Doc. 2 – A cartoon by Chapatte, 2009
Doc. 3 – Excerpt from the website www.mcdonaldsarabia.com/oman, article entitled “Social Responsibility”
McDonald's Oman1 welcomes the holy month of Ramadan with a giving spirit that reflects through the support
of number of staff to have their Omrah2, by helping children with special needs from the Association of Early
Intervention, without forgetting the Iftar dinners 3 for needy children. Moreover, a percentage of sales is
allocated for charity, while in-store collection boxes are often available for diners to donate their change to
children with special needs.
As far as education is concerned, McDonald's organizes educational tours for children to museums and
factories, encouraging awareness around culture and business.
Doc. 4 – Map showing the location of McDonald’s restaurants in 2011,
in Carto, number 20, November-December 2013
1
The Sultanate of Oman is a country located on the Arabic Peninsula, near the United Arab Emirates.
Omrah is the name given to the pilgrimage in Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islam.
3
Iftar refers to the evening meal for breaking swam (fasting) during the Ramadan.
2
Correction du contrôle – The USA and Globalization (McDonald’s)
Introduction
 Presentation of the topic
The USA is leading the phenomenon of Globalization. The latter can be defined as the increase of interactions
between the different parts of the World, characterized by World-scale flows of different natures.
Transnational Companies (TNCs) are among the main actors of this phenomenon, and McDonald’s, founded in
1944, is a very relevant example of American TNCs.
 Presentation of the documents
Doc. 1 is a picture of McDonald’s located in Chinatown, NYC. Doc. 2 is an ironical cartoon by Chapatte, dating
back to 2009, picturing a McDonald’s counter located at the US-Mexico border. Doc. 3 is taken from the
website of McDonald’s in Arabic countries, and it shows how the TNC adapts to the local and Muslim market of
the Sultanate of Oman, located on the Arabic peninsula. Doc. 4 is a planisphere showing the location of
McDonald’s restaurants in 2011, excerpted from the geographic magazine Carto, November 2013.
 Key question
How does McDonald’s epitomize the phenomenon of Globalization?
 Layout
I – McDonald’s, a world-wide company…
A – A TNC located all around the World…
Doc. 4 shows there were more than 33,000 McDonald’s restaurants around the World in 2011. Indeed, while
the headquarters of the company is located in the USA, Oak Brook, Illinois. But the company has many
branches/subsidiaries located all around the World:
- The first location remains the USA with more than 14,000 restaurants.
- Then come the countries of Europe and more especially Western Europe (rather than Eastern Europe
because these countries were communist until 1991: they are CEECs).
- In third position, we notice the growing importance of Asia: even if the number of restaurants has been
slightly decreasing in Japan, it is booming in emerging countries such as China and India.
- Latin American countries (especially Argentina and Brazil) and Arabic countries are also scattered with a
couple of McDonald’s restaurants.
So we can conclude that McDonald’s is looking for a market, for places where people can buy hamburgers:
it is spreading in developed countries, or in emerging or oil-producing countries where the company is sure to
find customers/a consumer society. It is not like the traditional process of relocation where companies are
looking for a cheap labor force abroad: McDonald’s is selling perishable goods so it needs a local market to
settle. This is what motivates McDonald’s strategy.
Most African countries do not have a single McDonald’s (expect South Africa, which is an emerging country and
part of the BRICS, and Maghreb). Indeed, many of them belong to the LDCs (Least Developed Countries):
their population is poor and political instability is common.
Besides, there are no McDonald’s in most of the Rogue States such as Iran, Iraq or North Korea.
B – …Which conveys the American way of life
Doc. 2 is very paradoxical. Indeed, on the one hand, we have the traditional image of the closed US-Mexico
border: the border fence is drawn with barbed-wire at the top. One Mexican, very thin, sweating, looking poor
and miserable with his sombrero, is walking along the border fence. Behind him, we see the bones of an animal
which probably died of thirst (because the climate looks arid and it is the desert everywhere, with no trees, no
grass, only sand). On the other hand, there is a McDonald’s counter or Mcdrive with the Golden Arches on top,
and a salesman ready to sell a hamburger to the poor Mexican guy.
The discrepancy between the two characters is striking. The presence of this McDonald’s counter conveys an
image of easiness, of a society of abundance and plenty which are the basis of the American soft power.
Such an image feeds the American Dream with the idea that everything is easily accessible on the other side
of the border, and triggers the massive illegal immigration which exists through the border: people are risking
their lives, crossing a dangerous border, in order to live the American Dream, in a country where everything
seems possible, where anyone can start from scratch and climb the social ladder thanks to your own work and
merit.
II - …which is acting locally
A – McDonald’s adapts to the countries where it is settling…
Doc. 1 pictures the McDonald’s restaurant located in Chinatown, NYC. Without the title, we could imagine that
we are in Shanghai or Beijing. Indeed, the architecture is very specific: the vivid colors, the pagoda roof and a
Chinese inscription in the front of the restaurant. The building definitely looks Chinese. This illustrates New
York’s Salad Bowl which makes the specificity of the city: the notion of Salad Bowl has replaced the old and
too idealistic notion of Melting Pot. Indeed, it appears that the different waves of immigrants that forged the
city are not melting properly: they remain distinct and keep a strong identity in different quarters. Chinatown
is an important quarter located in Lower Manhattan, and McDonald’s decided to respect the specificity of the
area.
Besides, doc. 3 presents the actions of McDonald’s in Mascate, capital city of the Sultanate of Oman. The
company adapts to the specificity of the country: it respects the Muslim religion of its employees and
customers, it helps the local needy children, it gives a part of its benefits to charity, etc. The company appears
very noble, generous and respectful of the local population. It does not seem to impose the American way of
life: McDonald’s, although a major American TNC, does not contribute to the cultural imperialism that is often
denounced regarding American TNCs (like Wal-Mart for instance). Far from imposing an Americanization of the
society of Oman, it is contributing to its Muslim identity.
B – … But it does not prevent criticism
Still, we may notice the source of doc. 3: it is excerpted from the website of McDonald’s itself. Then we may
question the relevance of the document. Indeed, the very positive vision of the company could definitely be
biased, idealized, embellished.
Besides, doc. 2 denounces the fact that McDonald’s is just caring about profits. Indeed, the salesman is not
helping the starving Mexican by providing him food. The generosity underlined in doc. 3 is totally absent here:
both documents convey a contradictory vision of the company.
Moreover, doc. 4 underlines the fact that the number of McDonald’s restaurants have been stagnating of
even decreasing in important consumer markets like Japan or the UK. The reason, though not directly
evocated in the map, could be that McDonald’s food is more and more criticized in Western countries: this fast
food is perceived as junk food, whose impacts on human bodies (with obesity for instance) are denounced.
Conclusion
Like many other TNCs, McDonald’s follows a two-scale strategy: it thinks global but acts local, which makes it
a major actor of Globalization. The company triggers very contradictory and contrasted opinions: some people
love it, some people hate it. The least we can say is that McDonald’s is caring about the good image it
conveys. But despite a good façade, McDonald’s seems to be caring only about profits.