GETTING READY

FOR
AN
INTERNATIONAL
ASSIGNMENT
MIB 2020 By: Nguyen Thi Lan
Introduction
In the century of globalization, decisions to choose a country to do business depends on many factors. It
raises a question about which strategy should be used to ensure effective operation in a foreign country.
Mc Donald’s is the world leader in the fast-food industry, conducting business in almost every country in
the world. However, the company face with many challenges in Vietnam- a developing country in South
East Asia. Specific characteristics of both the host country and the company are analyzed in this Get
ready to an international assignment. The report includes three parts. Part 1 focuses on the brief analysis
about Vietnam economic, culture, political and legal framework. Part 2 are mainly written about Mc
Donald’s strategy and organization characteristics. In the last part, some related to organizational and
managerial issues will be stated along with suggested solutions.

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 Part 1: Brief assessment of Vietnam
1.1 Vietnam’s economy characteristics
Vietnam is a fast-growing country with a mixed economy. During the 20st century, the whole
country suffered from two biggest of wars with two most strong countries which are the USA and France.
All resources and production are served for the war which constrained the economy to develop. Poverty
appeared around the country. Until 1945, this was a milestone in the history when President Ho Chi Minh
standing in front of thousands of Vietnamese, read out the declaration of independence, marked the
freedom of Vietnam. From this year, people started focusing on production and other sectors of the
economy to develop the country instead of providing materials for wars as before. In the late 1980’s, new
market-oriented policies were adopted which created an economic transformation for the country until
now. Economic decisions are principally driven by the market demand and supply but there is also
intervenes from the government at a significant level, forming a mixed economy for the country. Poverty
reduction campaign has proved its efficiency, proved by the decrease from 58% in 1992 to under 3% in
2019 according to Vietnam Statistic bureau. This can be explained by the dramatic improvement in the
GDP per capital of Vietnam from 1985 to 2019. In 1985, GDP per capital in Vietnam was at the bottom
of 231.45 USD, placing Vietnam in the group of low-income countries. The GDP per capital of Vietnam
kept on increasing and reached over 1000 USD in 2008 and 2,175.27 USD in 2019, pulling the country
into the group of lower middle - income countries (see the Graph 1). Growth rate of real gross domestic
product (GDP) from 2009 to 2019 is at an average of 6.5%-7% according to Vietnam Bureau of Statistics
and report of World Bank; and the growth speed is higher when compared with most of other countries in
the same region; in 2020, under the negative impact of the pandemic, it is expected to increase by 2,7%
and 7% for the year 2021. Main economic sectors in the country are service (contribution of 41.64%
GDP); followed by industry and agriculture-forestry. Inflation rate of the country is well controlled, with
3% in 2019 and the unemployment rate in 2019 also stood at around 1.8%-2.3% from 1992 to 2019, and
in 2020, the unemployment rate is expected to be 3% due to the pandemic. Vietnam has a young working
population with the fact that about 69 percent of Vietnam’s 94 million inhabitants are part of the
workforce, or between 15 to 64 years. This characteristic creates a great comparative advantage for the
country compared to the aging population in major countries in the world. The infrastructure system in
the country have been invested through year to year to meet the requirement of economic growth. Various
expressway connecting major cities with rural areas have been built. However, compared to other
countries, infrastructure of Vietnam is still a problem and in the improving process. Other dimensions of
infrastructure such as IT, technology, digital system still cannot come up with the world, creating a gap
between the domestic entrepreneurs and foreign one.

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Vietnam possess an open economy in the world with great efforts to boost international trade
According to the report about Index of Economic Freedom by Terry Miller and Kim Holmes 2013,
Vietnam is classified as a mostly free country with the index of 50-59%. This index is constructed of 10
specific components of economic freedom, divided in four main groups: rule of law, limited government,
regulatory efficiency and open markets. Vietnam began to open its border since late 1980s as an adoption
of new-market oriented policies. Since Vietnam joined WTO-World Trade Organization in 2007, the
county witnessed a breakthrough in its international trade. The trade is being boosted and developed at a
fast speed, representing 208 percent of the country GDP in 2018 according to World Bank. To accelerate
globalization and meet the international standard, Vietnam has been signing a variety of both multilateral
and bilateral agreements within the region and the globe. US, Japan, China and Korea as well as South
East Asia countries are leading countries in the business cooperation with Vietnam. Vietnam government
continuously establish promotion policies to attract foreign investment and demonstrate strong
commitment to trade liberalization. Vietnam is seeking for other new markets to expand its globalization
circle and this year 2002, the country and the European Parliament ratified a new free trade agreement
and will come into force soon. There is a strong geographic inequality in the trade of Vietnam which
show a trade surplus with Western countries and the USA but an increasing deficit with its Asian
neighboring countries and specially China. Vietnam is famous for being a potential location attracting
foreign investors operating in the textile industry, high-technology manufacturing and agricultural
products. It is predicted that the export volume of Vietnam will continuously increasing as an advantage
of the escalated trade war between China and USA since 2018. Vietnam ranked 67 among 141 countries
in the global competitiveness index 4.0 2019, shifting up 10 ranks compared with the year 2018 according
to World Economic Forum. Besides that, Vietnam is one of top 3 countries in the lower-middle income
ranking the highest in terms of innovation economies and ranked 42 in the world which prove for the
efforts of Vietnam government in developing innovation and infrastructure to well integrate with the
world. Income is distributed quite equal among the population. The adoption of the Law on Gender
Equality in 2006 marked a progressive step forwards ensuring gender equality in the country.
1.2 Vietnam cultural environment
Hofstede cultural dimensions theory is a famous theory providing a framework to distinguish
different countries in term of culture, different cultural dimensions and how culture affect the business
within a country. According to Hofstede model (see the Graph 2), the cultural characteristics of Vietnam
will be judge in dimensions with different score in the one-hundred score ladder: power distance;
individualism; masculinity; uncertainty avoidance; long-term orientation and indulgence. In term of
power distance, Vietnam score quite high compared to other countries with the core of 70. This means
that a hierarchical order is accepted in the culture; each person has their own specialized position. In the

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business, this characteristic implies that lower-level executives prefer to be told what to do and an
autocratic management style. The consultative interactions between two tiers are not welcomed by
Vietnamese managers. In terms of individualism, the score of Vietnam is relatively low at 20 score per
100. This is because Vietnam is a collectivist-oriented society in which, benefits of the whole
organization are prioritized to the individual benefit. Long-term commitments and loyalty to the group are
always appreciated in this society. This collective characteristic fosters strong relationships and everyone
is encouraged to take responsibility for fellow members of their organization. Compared between
masculinity and femininity, femininity is dominant. In Vietnam, most of people hold the belief and base
on this belief to live; it is the belief of “working in order to live”. Equality, solidarity and quality in the
working environments are valued the most. Vietnamese people share a preference for live quality to
achievements. At the organization level, flexibility and free time are most favored kind of incentives. An
also, under the effect of Confucianism, conflicts within any situation are always avoided and resolved by
a harmonized attitude by using compromise and negotiation. The level of uncertainty avoidance is low in
the country. People possess a relaxed attitude towards innovation and new changes. These new things are
not seen as threatening and easily accepted by people. This encourages entrepreneurs to be actively
innovate and develop their products and technologies without the fear of being refused from Vietnamese
customers. The long-term orientation score of Vietnam is relatively high. In a business relationship,
Vietnamese look for long-term relationship with their partners and long-term expectations are
appreciated. Besides focusing on the presence, Vietnamese people tend to connect both the long-term and
short-term plan together.
1.3. Political and legal system characteristics
Vietnam follow a single-party political system with the General Secretary of the Communist Party
of Vietnam playing a role as the leader and head, holding the highest positive in the one-party system.
The country is run under an autocratic style, rather than a democracy one. In terms of standard of
freedom, Vietnam is classified as a not free country where people have very few political rights and civil
liberties. As a single-party socialist country, Vietnamese government allow minimal exercise of personal
choice. The civil law is the basis of legal system and religious and social freedoms are constrained. The
Government share profound effects on the business activities. Although in recent years, globalization has
been developed and a lot of foreign companies enter the domestic market, the control from the
government remain at a quite significant level. Political system in Vietnam is at the high level of stability
which create a competitive advantage for Vietnam in the global market. Vietnam is one of the most
peaceful countries in the world without riots, protests or conflicts among different parties of the political
system. Therefore, political risks in Vietnam in general are very low, compared to other countries.

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 Part 2: Strategy, Organization and Human framework of Mc Donald’s

2.1 Mc Donald’s business strategy

The Mc Donald’s Corporation is one of the most successful global fast-food chains with its
operation in almost 119 countries with about 36.000 restaurant around the world. To enter new markets,
Mc Donald’s have intelligently collaborated and integrated different management and global expansion
strategies, gaining a big share of the fast-food market cake in the world. Unlike many other competitors in
the fast-food market such as KFC, Lotteria or Pizza Huts, Mc Donald’s chose to do business in Vietnam
later, after the habit of enjoying fast-food has been formed in Vietnam.
The industry structure of Mc Donald’s is well explained by using Five forces model, which
analyzes the interrelationship among: suppliers of inputs; buyers of outputs; substitute products; potential
new entrants and rivalry among competing sellers. The bargaining power of Mc Donald’s suppliers is low
because of their small size and the availability of inputs materials. In the 21 st century with the
development of technology and health consciousness and the competitiveness among a variety of same
brands, Mc Donald customer’s bargaining power has grown very high. Globally, the threat of substitute
products for McDonalds is moderate due to a large market share of Mc Donald’s and its well brand name.
But in Vietnam, the threat to Mc Donald’s arising from substitute products is very high, which could be
explained by the later entry of Mc Donald’s compared to other brands in the fast-food industry and also
the competitiveness from local food providers. The threat from new entrants for McDonalds is also
moderate while the level of competitive rivalry among the existing brands in the fast food industry is very
high.
Mc Donald’s develop its menu with four product strategies which include: permanent product
strategy; temporary product strategy; local product development strategy and local adaptation strategy.
With the connection of various product strategies, Mc Donald’s not only create familiar feeling for
consumers around the world with its traditional products but also create the diversity of choices for local
consumers and well meet the local taste requirements. In Vietnam, besides Big Mac and he Quarter
Pounder (the global product marked the name of Mc Donald’s), the company learn to adapt to the local
market by serving very “Vietnamese” dishes such as “Com ga”-chicken rice and ‘Com bo”- Beef Rice.
A group of competencies created and developed by Mc Donald’s has contributed largely to its
enormous success as its today, which has differentiated Mc Donald’s with other fast-food brands. It
includes: brand name; food variety and quality; global presence; customer service and economies of scale.
Mc Donald’s has a global brand image which gives the brand extra leverage in terms of marketing as well
as sales. Many new campaigns and strategies has been built as a mean of remaining and defining the
strong brand image of Mc Donald’s in the market. The logo Golden Arches has been valued as one of 100
most valued brands in the world. Mc Donald’s still serves a rather uniform menu globally with minor

5
local variations to suit the local taste and keep up to three pages of different choices for customers. The
strict regulations adopted to assure the food hygiene standards of Mc Donald’s also contribute to the
sustainable development of Mc Donald’s through time to time. Doing business in wide ranges of
countries, Mc Donald’s has been investing in its modern lines of system, creating experiences of a very
fast serving style for customers. The costs of operation are also reduced significantly due to enormous
production or economies of scales.
2.2 The Organization of Mc Donald’s
In terms of vertical differentiation, Mc Donald’s operates with a more decentralized organizational
system than a centralized one. 80% of Mc Donald’s stores are operated under franchising contract. The
company delegates decision-making authority through the organization and agents have ability to operate
locally. This characteristic is popular in the fast-food franchising chain. However, the company also
centralize some activities from operating units. Strategic decisions of the company are made by high-level
managers in its head quarter office and then transferred to other lower-level managers. Because of a
massive network of franchises around the world, control is supported through all of their franchises to
make sure that customer experience and quality is consistent at every stores. The company has installed
more centralized reporting processes for key business functions, including manufacturing and quality
control. For example, the exact same number of pickles is put on each burger no matter where the store is
located in the world. In Vietnam, to meet the requirements of quality, beef and other key materials to
make hamburger are imported from foreign warehouses to strictly follow the standards. Employee
working processes are highly formalized, with clear lines of communication and specific job descriptions.
Organizational structure of McDonald’s can be classified as matrix structure, including both
divisional and functional structure. At the corporate level, Mc Donald’s specialized functions are grouped
together to form a specific department which includes: corporate relations, marketing, business
development and innovation, finance; global digital; supply chain; operations and technology systems.
Besides, McDonald’s business operations are divided into the four divisions according to their
geographical location, forming a geographic divisional structure, including: United States; Europe;
Asia/Pacific – Middle East and Africa and other countries. There are specialized departments running in
each division, including: finance, marketing, logistics and etc. Specially, from July 1, 2015, significant
changes in the company’s organizational structure came into effect which put more emphasis on the
international market. According to these changes, the roles of executives are clarified by stating the
responsibility of regional and country manager for growth in international markets. Looking at the
geographic structure in international market of Mc Donald’s, it could be concluded that the
responsibilities for international operations are allocated and distributed among four senior executives at
president level. According to the data in 2014, the largest segment of Mc Donald’s which contributed 40

6
percent of the operating income belonged to USA. Besides that, Mc Donald’s grouped some countries
such as China, Italy, Poland, Russia, South Korea into the grouped of high growth market. This group
accounted to about 10 percent of the company’s operating income and hold a fast-growing speed.
International lead markets refer to the group of some established markets such as Australia, Canada,
France, the UK and Germany. These markets are where Mc Donald’s have been doing business for many
years and has contributed about 40 percent of the total income for the company. Foundational markets as
its meaning, refer to the other potential markets in the Mc Donald’s system. Vietnam belongs to this
group.
McDonald’s organizational culture is tolerant culture where employees at different levels share
common values and emphasize the importance of a cohesive organization culture. In Mc Donald’s, the
company emphasizes human resource development and efficiency. It supports business growth and
success in the international fast food restaurant market. This organizational culture has the following
characteristics, arranged according to McDonald’s prioritization: People-centricity; Individual learning;
Organizational learning; Diversity and inclusion. The company offers training and development
opportunities through Hamburger University, internships, global mobility, and leadership development
programs to ensure that McDonald’s maintains an organizational culture that motivates employees to
keep learning. The first big one, McDonald’s Hamburger University, began operating in 1961 in a
restaurant basement in Elk Grove, Illinois. By 2013, it had trained nearly 85,000 managers and
owner/operators in 28 languages from 119 countries in “hamburgerology.” In 2010, McDonald’s opened
a Hamburger University in Shanghai, China, to support its goal of eventually launching up to 5,000
Chinese outlets.
2.3 Mc Donald’s global human approach
Mc Donald’s use predominantly host-country human capital for key manager positions in its
subsidiaries because they believe that local managers are more familiar with the culture, working style,
environment of the host country and they are able to respond to the local requirement for localization of
the subsidiary operations. To management teams of Mc Donald’s. The polycentric approach of Mc
Donald’s contributes to the independence and freedom to develop their own market of country managers
of its subsidiaries. Top manager team of Mc Donald’s make strategic decisions and transfer them to local
subsidiaries to follow and set them as standardized regulations to operate. The leadership style is very
adaptive, leaders act like facilitator and mentor for the lower level of employee. The country managers
are responsible for the increase in revenue; conducting marketing and promotion strategies to attract more
customers and flexibly change products to adapt to the local market.
Bureaucratic control is the major method in Mc Donald’s. At the restaurant level; for example, in
Vietnam, employees at lower level seldomly have right to contribute their ideas in the organization; all

7
they have to do and should do is just obey the orders. Mc Donald’s mission and value are carried by each
single employee at low level; with automatic response under bureaucratic, Mc Donald’s employees are
always ready to serve customers efficiently. At the restaurant level, the rule is that employees receive
orders from the restaurant manager then follow a standardized set of steps to produce fresh food and serve
their customers with a smile.
According to all the analysis, it could be concluded that Mc Donald’s operates under a
multidomestic strategy with a more decentralized system; matric structure organization and a staff
framework under polycentric approach. The company faces higher level of pressure for local
responsiveness and lower level of pressure for global integration. The strategy emphasizes philosophical
consensus and operational commitment. Subsidiary of Mc Donald’s in Vietnam generally follow core
values; management style and organization structure of the head Mc Donald’s with standardized products,
local products and managed by local manager.

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 Part 3: Challenges and Suggested solutions for Mc Donald’s in Vietnam market
Mc Donald’s enter Vietnam market in 2014 under the mode of franchising. Until 2020, six years
after its entry, there are 22 stores in two biggest cities of Vietnam: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city.
Compared to Mc Donald’s competitors in the fast-food industry in the country, Mc Donald’s modestly
stand at the lowest point in terms of market share. Some analysists state that Mc Donald’s has been failed
in doing business in Vietnam. There are many factors which could be used to explain for its failure. Some
challenges arising from the differences between Vietnam culture and economy and Mc Donald’s
organization structure and international business strategy.
3.1 Challenges
Localization strategy of Mc Donald’s has not sufficiently fitted the collectivism characteristics
of Vietnam culture. As most of the countries the company do business, they choose to enter new markets
by a franchising contract and local managers are chosen to be the country managers to better understand
local tastes and preferences. In Vietnam, Mc Donald’s also use this strategy, proved by its introduction of
“Cơm” menu. However, Big Mac and French fries are still two most outstanding products, naming Mc
Donald’s. Big Mac of Mc Donald’s are standardized and developed as the competitive advantage of the
company in the fast-food industry. These types of products could not be shared or enjoyed together while
the collectivism is the dominant cultural feature of Vietnamese. People of the country prefer a big meal
with multi dishes of foods to share and enjoy together. Vietnamese culture often gathers and form the
crowd, family element is always appreciated, so group dishes are often preferred over a single Big Mac.
This is even more evident in families with multiple generations, when they enjoy food together in a
restaurant. And it is clear that the one-person meals, or the hamburger that is difficult to divide into many
parts, is not their number one priority. These habits are deeply ingrained in Vietnamese people. If Mc
Donald’s only focus on changing products to better serve the local tastes without fitting the habit of
enjoying foods in local market, it is very hard to succeed and gain a sustainable position in the fast-food
industry.
Standardized quality requirements of Mc Donald’s increase the costs which push the prices
beyond the average income of consumers in Vietnam. Mc Donald’s head office set a strict standard
quality for all of its products around the world. In other countries, Mc Donald’s mostly use the local
materials as the main input source in its supply chain. However, in Vietnam, local materials could not
fully meet the requirements due to lack of advanced technology in agriculture and the incomplete
regulation framework for meat and vegetables. To meet this global standard, main raw materials to make
hamburgers such as beef and fishes are imported to Vietnam. Fresh material’s preservation process
requires costly technology and techniques. As a result, the prices of Mc Donald’s products are pushed
higher compared to the income of Vietnamese consumers. At average, for a meal per day, Vietnamese

9
people will pay about 30,000 VND- 50,0000 VND, equivalent to about 1.5 USD- 2.3 USD per meal while
one Big Mac costs about 70,000 VND – 100,000 VND, equivalent to about 2.4 USD- 3.8 USD.
Therefore, Vietnamese consumers seldomly choose Mc Donald’s as their daily destination. Instead, they
usually go to Mc Donald’s on weekends or some special occasions for children such as their child’s
birthday or international kid’s day. Consumers have more choices instead of choosing Mc Donald’s.
Vietnam infrastructure does not support unique strategy of “Drive-thru” of Mc Donald’s. In
Vietnam, transportation system is still in the process of developing and perfection. Road systems are quite
narrow and crowded in big cities where Mc Donald’s locate. At rush hours, traffic jam is unavoidable.
Therefore, the fact that Mc Donald’s maintains the serving style the same as in developed country has not
proved its efficiency in the local market. By using this serving service, Mc Donald’s defines its
dominance in one word “Fast”. In Vietnam, “fast service” means “buy-get on road”. In the USA, Mc
Donald’s approach the “drive-thru” scheme, which brings a large amount of revenue for the company.
The company uses the same strategy in Vietnam but failed because road system is insufficient and car
users are not able to visit Mc Donald’s to buy a hamburger in such a crowded street. Thereby, Mc
Donald’s can’t define its “fast” and this strategy should be changed to adapt to the country infrastructure.
Vietnam digital basement interrupt the digital-oriented operations of Mc Donald’s. To serve a
large number of customers, Mc Donald’s invests a lot of money in the advancement of technology and
reduction of human interruption in the operational process. Processes are developed to automatically run
to reduce costs for the whole chain. In some countries such as the USA, China, most of Mc Donald’s
consumers have experienced the Experience of The Future- EOTF service. Experience of the Future
(EOTF) is a long-term strategy of McDonald's global, applying the most innovative 4.0 technologies to
improve restaurant operation system as well as enhance customer care service. However, in Vietnam, Mc
Donald’s suffers difficulty in conducting this approach because of the habit of using cashes among
consumers. Until 31/12/2019, 80% of transactions in daily consumption are by cashes. Therefore, Mc
Donald’s “kiosk” or EOTF (Experience of the future) plan couldn’t manage to roll out in the local market.
3.2 Suggested Solutions
Promote localization of both inputs and outputs by selling global-standard products in a local
sharing values approach. “Vietnamese prioritize Vietnamese products”- this is a quote that the
Government encourages national consumers to consume products originated and produced by Vietnamese
producers. Instead of importing materials from foreign warehouses, Mc Donald’s could consider to
collaborate with local farms to supply input sources and still meet the quality requirements of the global
chain. As that, both inputs and outputs are localized, creating the local tastes while keeping the value
created of the whole system. Values are shared among the company itself with local consumers and local
suppliers. This approach also helps to reduce the costs of supply chain, resulting in the decrease in the

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price of hamburgers as well. Vietnam culture appreciate the long-term relationship; therefore, if Mc
Donald’s look for the far future in Vietnam market, the company could establish the center for R&D to
commit a long-term corporation with the market.
Setting-up take-away kiosk around the main restaurant with human-half assisted operation
method instead of fully-robotic one. As analyzing above about the transport infrastructure of Vietnam,
Mc Donald’s could consider replacing the ‘Drive thru” scheme by another scheme to fully adapt to the
country’s status. 80% of Vietnamese people use motorbikes as their main mode of transport. Therefore,
for more convenience and develop another channel of selling, Mc Donald’s could bring their products
closer to motorbike users by setting up kiosk for take-away near the main roads so that motorbike users
could buy hamburger right without the need to stop the transport, taking off helmets and go into the
restaurant for a quick meal. A staff could help when consumers use cash to pay for the meal.
In conclusion, most of challenges facing Mc Donald’s when doing business in Vietnam are related
to the local characteristics of Vietnamese consumers in their habit of eating. Additionally, the
infrastructure of Vietnam is a lower level compared to other countries which causes difficulty for the
company to conduct their core values such as product or serving services. Some strategies could be used
to tackle these challenges such as localization both inputs and outputs, investments for far future
cooperation and replacement serving services.

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Summary
In the century of globalization as it is today, movement and allocation of resources are almost free and
unrestricted. This requires multinational companies a deep understanding of the country where they
prepare to do business in. Vietnam is a country where Mc Donald’s chose to do business since 2014.
Vietnam is a fast-growing country with a mixed economy where the market is basically driven by the
demand-supply rule and controlled by the Government at a particular level. Since the end of historical
wars and the transformation occurred in 1980, the country has seen a surge in the GDP as well as the
living standard of its citizen. Economic indexes such as inflation rate and unemployment rate are always
remained at a controlled level, creating a stable and trustworthy economy system in the eyes of investors.
Vietnam is ranked as one of the countries with highest openness in the world. The country joined WTO in
2007 and since then it signed many bilateral and multilateral agreements with other countries within the
region and around the world. It can be concluded that Vietnam has become an important key in the global
supply chain. With high potential like this, Mc Donald’s started its business in Vietnam since 2014. Mc
Donald’s succeeded in many countries in the world under the mode of franchising. However, some
cultural characteristics and limitations in Vietnam brings about some challenges for the company to
spread its business. Although Mc Donald’s remained its multidomestic strategy, proved by its local
adaptation, the role of country managers in its operation, these strategies haven’t fully fitted the dominant
feature of collectivism in Vietnam culture. Additionally, the fact that the global standard for food quality
need to be followed while local materials doesn’t meet, indirectly pushes up the price over the average
income of the local consumers. Limitations in the infrastructure and digital basement of the country
constrain the operation of Mc Donald’s which lead to challenges for the success of the company. The
report also suggests some solutions to overcome these obstacles related to the effect of the country on the
management and organization of the company. The first solution could be used is the local sharing
approach. Vietnam country highly appreciate the long-term relationship, therefore, besides localizing
products, Mc Donald’s could invest in vegetable farms, R&D center right on the local land to create
qualified materials. As a result, the prices will potentially decrease while the products with full local
materials will be welcomed and supported by local consumers themselves. The second solutions is to
maintain the “fast” of Mc Donald’s in a local way by setting up partial robotic and partial human assistant
kiosk on the road. Above all, to develop and succeed in a diversified culture and developing country such
as Vietnam, Mc Donald’s should do more research to better understand and adapt to the local market by
adjusting strategies and management in a reasonable way.

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References
1, Vietnam Statistics Bureau (online) available at: https://www.gso.gov.vn
2, John Dudovskly, “McDonalds Leadership and McDonalds Organizational Structure”, 2016
3, “Human Resources Management in McDonald’s” published on 22 January 2010, available at:
http://sth-about-human-resources-management.blogspot.com/2010/01/human-resources-management-in-
mcdonalds.html?m=1
4, Mc Donald’s website (online) available at:
https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-values.html
5, Terry Miller and Kim Holmes, 2013 Index of Economic Freedom, Washington, DC: The Heritage
Foundation and Dow Jones & Co., Inc. 2013
6, Analysis about Mc Donald’s, available at: https://notesmatic.com/mcdonalds-strategic-analysis/
7, John Dudovskyly, McDonalds Leadership and McDonalds Organizational Structure, available at:
https://research-methodology.net/mcdonalds-leadership-and-mcdonalds-organizational-structure/
8, Toby L.Parcel and Marie B.Sickmeier, One firm, two labor markets: the case of Mc Donald’s in the
fast-food industry, the Sociological Quarterly, Volume 29, Number 1, pages 29-46, JAI Press, Inc.1988
9, Audrey Williams-Lee, Accelerated Leadership Development, Tops the Talent Management Menu at
Mc Donald’s, Wiley InterScience. 2008

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 Appendix

Graph 1: Gross domestic product in billion dollars of Vietnam from 1984-2020

Source: World Bank

Graph 2: Vietnam culture according to Hofstede model

Source: hofstede-insights.com

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 Graph 3: McDonalds leadership functional structure in international markets
Source: https://research-methodology.net/mcdonalds-leadership-and-mcdonalds-organizational-
structure/

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 Graph 4: McDonalds geographic structure in international markets

President and Chief

executive officer

President, President,
President, Mc President, high
international lead foundational
Donald's USA growth markets
market markets

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