How does McDonald's alter its marketing mix between countries a case Essay

How does McDonald's alter its marketing mix between countries a case study of UK and China - Essay Example erm – the performance of marketing strategies is usually depended on the resources available – funds, employees and technology (Luo et al., 2005, 50); however, it is also depended on the cultural and social characteristics and ethics of the targeted market. Through the decades it has been proved that no all firms are able to work internationally; in fact, only those firms that have been able to align their strategies with the ethics and the culture of the targeted market have managed to survive in the specific market – entering a foreign market is not the most difficult part of a relevant marketing scheme (Palich et al., 111999, 587). Another issue is the fact that firms that have been established in countries with totally different social ethics and traditions are less likely to understand – at least on time – the psychology and the needs of consumers in a market with particular culture and ethics (Nakata et al., 2001, 255). Organizational culture is proved at this case to have a decisive role in the ability of a firm to develop the strategies that will be effectively implemented in the targeted market (Armstrong et al., 2009, 34); in this context, marketing schemes that are going to be used for the promotion of p roducts/ services in a foreign market will be going to be successful only if they respond to the characteristics and the needs of local people (Hennig et al., 2002, 230); otherwise they will soon be led to a failure. Current paper focuses on the examination of the ways that McDonalds has altered its marketing mix in order to respond to the needs of two different markets: the British and the Chinese. The identification and the evaluation of the relevant policies is based on two different criteria: the views that have been published in the literature – in relation with the study’s main issue – and the views of consumers in the above two countries. In this context, a detailed literature review has been developed in regard to the structure