Globalization's Impact on McDonald's: A Case Study Research Proposal

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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY ON
MCDONALD'S
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Name of Student
Name of University
Learner's note

GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
Working Title
Impact of globalisation on fast food industry with a special reference to McDonald's
Abstract
The trends of globalisation have severely affected the business structures of the multinational
organisations, changing the nature of the market itself. This study will highlight the key impacts
and possibilities of McDonald's resulted from globalisation of fast food industry in the UK.
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Background to the Study.............................................................................................................4
Research Aim...............................................................................................................................4
Research Objectives.....................................................................................................................4
Research Questions......................................................................................................................4
Rationale of the Study.................................................................................................................5
The Scope of the Study................................................................................................................5
Literature Review............................................................................................................................6
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................7
Project Planning...............................................................................................................................9
Ethical Issues.................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
Appendix........................................................................................................................................12
Appendix A: Questionnaire Template.......................................................................................12
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
Introduction
Background to the Study
As the trade barriers between countries are gradually being lifted, the countries are becoming
more and more globalised, allowing the various companies to take a global approach in their
business. Naturally, this results in them gradually entering into the market of new countries and
acquire new segment of customers. Prime examples of this are the multinational fast food chains
such as McDonald's, which are expanding their business over new countries, especially in
Europe and South Asia, increasing their loyal customer segment and profitability.
Research Aim
This research has the aim to assess the various impacts of the trend of globalisation on the
business operations and profitability of the fast food industry while taking McDonald's as a case
study.
Research Objectives
The objectives of this research are:
 To assess the potential benefits of globalisation for fast food chains like McDonald's
 To assess the major drawbacks of globalisation for fast food chains like McDonald's
 To explore the future possibilities that globalisation can bring for fast food chains like
McDonald's
Research Questions
The research questions can be formulated as follows:
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
 What are the major benefits of globalisation that enhance the business success for fast
food companies like McDonald's?
 What are the success factors that McDonald's has attained in the global market?
 What are the major drawbacks of globalisation that affect the business success for fast
food companies like McDonald's?
 What are the future possibilities that McDonald's can face while growing as a
multinational fast food chain in a globalised business environment?
Rationale of the Study
The business operations of fast food companies has significantly changed due to globalisation, as
the fast food chains like McDonald's has gained the chances of expanding in new countries
having fresh new customers, especially in the countries of Europe and South Asia. Since
globalisation has reduced the cultural barriers between countries and societies, the products of
fast food companies like McDonald's are becoming popular across different cultures. However,
multinational expansions may also require McDonald's to significantly change their
organisational structure and operations. Hence, a thorough analysis of potential benefits and
drawbacks of globalisation for fast food industry is essential, as it will identify the various
changes in McDonald's caused by globalisation from employee perspectives.
The Scope of the Study
This research will identify the potential benefits and drawbacks that fast food companies like
McDonald's are facing due to globalisation, as well as the possible success factors and future
opportunities that McDonald's has attained in this globalised market.
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
Literature Review
Benefits of globalisation for multinational fast food chains like McDonald's
As globalisation is primarily an economic phenomenon that is caused by lowering of
international trade barriers, one of its positive effects is the increase of foreign investment
inflow. Lawrence and Almas (2018) argued that this allows the organisations to increase both
their fixed and working capital, reducing the financial risks associated with expansion to new
countries. Moreover, globalisation facilitates the formation and use of international payment
gateways, which eases the financial business transactions for multinational companies like
McDonald's. Moreover, Bernstein and Brass (2016) argued that the differences in the tastes and
food preferences of customers belonging to different societies are gradually reducing due to
globalisation, which helps fast food companies like McDonald's to enhance their sales figure in
the global market.
Potential negative impacts of globalisation for multinational fast food chains like
McDonald's
However, Hanson et al. (2016) argued that globalisation is not always beneficial, as it may cause
some significant changes in the salary structure for the employees of large organisations like
McDonald's. The globalisation of market reduces the threshold for new entrants, and the market
competition significantly increases due to it. Naturally, this forces the existing large companies
to readjust the costs and salary structure of their organisations in order to remain competitive in
the market, which affects the payrolls and increments of their employees. Moreover, Krugman
(2017) opined that the worldwide inflation leaves a greater impact on a globalised market,
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
forcing the large organisations like McDonald's to increase their product cost which may cause
them to lose their customers.
Future possibilities created by globalisation for McDonald's
From an overall perspective, the increase in the trends of globalisation in business environment
creates many opportunities for large organisations like McDonald's to further enhance their
business profitability. For instance, Obstfeld (2015) opined that due to globalisation, the trends
of having fast foods in daily menu has gradually been increasing in countries of Europe and
South Asia, as their food preferences are becoming more aligned. This presents a big opportunity
for fast food chains like McDonald's to expand their business in those countries and build loyal
relationship with the fresh new customers residing there. Moreover, according to Potrafke
(2015), globalisation also presents an opportunity for the fast food chains to enhance their
product standards to a global level, gaining customer satisfaction and brand reputation.
Research Methodology
Research Philosophy
The researchers will adopt the philosophy of positivism for this particular research, as the
researchers will be able to properly formulate the logical inferences which will allow them to
find out the target information in a step-by-step logical manner (Ryan, 2018). Moreover, this
philosophy allows the researchers to form a detailed and well-structured research process, which
reduces the chances of data manipulation and errors.
Research Approach
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
This research will utilise the deductive approach of analysis, which will allow the researchers to
analyse the collected data in order to justify the validity of an existing hypothesis (Stephens,
Dunn and Hayes, 2017). As it is already known that globalisation has affected the business
structure of McDonald's, the deductive approach will better help the researchers to identify the
various aspects of it.
Research Design
For this research, the researchers will use the descriptive design of research, as it will allow them
to utilise the appropriate data collection process and analyse the collected data in order to find
out and describe the various aspects of the research topic (Nassaji, 2015).
Data Collection and analysis
The researchers will collect and analyse both the secondary and primary data for this particular
research study. The collection of for primary data will be done with the help of a questionnaire
survey and personal interview sessions. The participants of the survey will be employees of
McDonald's, and a few high-level managers of McDonald's will be interviewed. The survey
results will go through quantitative analysis, while the interview results will be analysed
qualitatively. The sources for secondary data will be various journals and online libraries.
Sample Size
The sample size for the questionnaire survey and interview session will be 60 employees and 3
managers of McDonald's respectively.
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
Project Planning
Activities Date (04.02.2019 - 15.06.2019)
04
February
-15
February
16
February
-28
February
01
March
-15
March
16
March
-31
March
01
April
-15
April
16
April
-30
April
01
May
-15
May
16
May
-31
May
01
June
-15
June
Starting
literature
study and
defining
research
objectives
and
questions
Arranging
for data
collection
Completin
g literature
research
and
writing the
literature
review
Completin
g
secondary
data
research
Completin
g
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
collection
and
analysis of
primary
data
Completin
g first draft
of research
report
Completin
g revised
draft
Final
report
submission
Table 1: Gantt Chart of Project Plan
(Source: Learner)
Ethical Issues
This research will follow all standard ethical practices necessary to maintain the necessary
standards in a research project. A consent form will be sent to each of the survey and interview
participants via e-mail which will have to be duly signed by them before their participation in
this research. Moreover, it will explicitly stated in the consent form that the participants are free
to choose not answer any question, and all the information they provide will be kept strictly
confidential from any third-party. This data will be kept in secure hard disk in encrypted format
and will only be accessible to and used by the involved researchers.
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
References
Bernstein, H. and Brass, T., 2016. Globalisation and Restructuring in the Indian Food Industry.
In Agrarian Questions (pp. 199-218). Routledge.
Bryman, A., 2017. Quantitative and qualitative research: further reflections on their integration.
In Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 57-78). Routledge.
Hanson, D., Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D. and Hoskisson, R.E., 2016. Strategic management:
Competitiveness and globalisation. Cengage AU.
Krugman, P., 2017. Crises: The price of globalisation?. In Economics of Globalisation (pp. 31-
50). Routledge.
Lawrence, G. and Almas, R., 2018. Globalisation, localisation and sustainable livelihoods.
Routledge.
Nassaji, H., 2015. Qualitative and descriptive research: Data type versus data analysis.
Obstfeld, M., 2015. Trilemmas and trade-offs: living with financial globalisation.
Potrafke, N., 2015. The evidence on globalisation. The World Economy, 38(3), pp.509-552.
Ryan, G., 2018. Introduction to positivism, interpretivism and critical theory. Nurse
researcher, 25(4), pp.41-49.
Stephens, R.G., Dunn, J.C. and Hayes, B.K., 2017. Are there two processes in reasoning? The
dimensionality of inductive and deductive inferences.
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GLOBALISATION AFFECTING FAST FOOD INDUSTRY
Appendix
Appendix A: Questionnaire Template
Survey Questions:
 Do you believe that McDonald's has gained any benefit due to globalisation in the UK
market?
 Do you believe that McDonald's has experienced any negative impact due to
globalisation in the UK market?
 Do you believe that globalisation has increased market competition in the UK for
McDonald's?
 Do you believe that employee salary structure has been affected in McDonald's due to
globalisation?
 Do you believe that McDonald's has business opportunities underlying in the global
business environment of the UK?
 Do you believe expansion in new countries will be easier for McDonald's due to
globalisation?
 Do you believe that McDonald's is capable of countering the negative impacts resulting
from globalisation?
 Do you believe that globalisation will help McDonald's to grow as a fast food chain in the
UK?
Interview questions:
 What benefits do you believe that McDonald's has gained due to globalisation?
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