Studying and understanding different cultures of the world, is an integral part of successfully communicating internationally. This paper will examine three case studies evaluating communication styles in France. The focus will be on McDonald’s France, Euro Disney, and Accor. These three cases all involve a lack of effective communication and understanding of French Culture.
French Culture
In order to examine these French communication case studies it is important to understand the French culture. The French are characterized as having a very high level of uncertainty avoidance, but ironically change their minds quite frequently. The French are also very characterized as a very individualistic culture, meaning that everyone is only supposed to take care of themselves and their immediate family. These characteristics will be seen throughout the case studies, especially the uncertainty avoidance factor.
McDonald’s France Case:
McDonalds has opened franchises all over the world, little did they know that breaking into the French market would be such a challenge. McDonalds is a global corporation that is now tailoring its food, and entire dinning experience to fit local cultures.
At first, the French were not very receptive of McDonalds invading their country, and were very reluctant to indulge in the high fat, fast food. Culturally it was different from anything they had ever experienced before. Initially French McDonalds were replicates of American McDonalds, serving the same menu with the same structural layout. The French traditionally enjoy lingering over their meals, and creating a dinning experience as opposed quickly consuming a large amount of food. These factors led to a slow start for McDonalds in France.
The French were also very concerned about the high level of fat contained in the traditional McDonalds menu. This became a huge communication problem, especially when protests started picketing several McDonalds in France.
McDonalds France Solution:
These problems have been handled by having McDonalds France Public Relations Department giving several press conferences, as well as, distributing several press releases. Since the Problem spans the entire country, high level McDonalds executives are communicating with the public. This communication does not end with high level executives; the message has permeated throughout the entire organization. The managers of individual franchises are very proactive to address and resolve the problems McDonalds has been experiencing. They choose to use the several forms of media that are most likely to actually reach the average McDonalds consumer, news paper press releases, press conferences that could be aired on the local news, and a new advertising campaign.
McDonalds. What had started as a humble family owned drive-through has become a multi-million dollar industry. Everywhere one goes, there are reminders of how amazingly widespread this company has become, whether it be seeing McDonald’s famous golden arches on a billboard or hearing the catchy “I’m Lovin’ It” tune in a commercial. But more than this, McDonalds has become part of our global identity– our McWorld.
In the National Association for Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, there are many standards a social worker should uphold in order to promote a healthy and helpful relationship with the client. One such aptitude is Cultural Competence and Social Diversity, which is in section 1.05 of the NASW code of ethics (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). There are three sections associated with this competency “Social workers should understand culture and its function in human behavior and society, recognizing the strengths in all cultures”. It is assumed that “social workers should have a knowledge base of their clients’ cultures and be able to demonstrate competence in the provision of services that are sensitive to clients”. As a final point “Social workers should obtain education” in order to understand cultural diversity and oppression in people (NASW, 2008, p. 9).
and Europe, which include reduction of animal use, refine animal study techniques, and animal testing replacement. According to Dana ,Bidnall, “Animals are also used, and subsequently killed, every year in many other types of laboratory experiments, from military testing to simulated car crashes to deliberately introduced diseases such as AIDS and Alzheimer 's”(49). Bidnal also states that, “These experiments take place in labs at universities, pharmaceutical companies, and testing agencies, and on farms and military bases around the world”(49). The author suggest,”Researchers who conduct experiments on animals argue that it would be unethical to test substances with potentially adverse side effects on humans; animals are good surrogates because their responses are similar to humans”(49).Bidnal contends with ,”However, some animals are chosen for other reasons”(49). According to Bindal, “Animal testing is not the only option in toxicity testing”(50). Bidnal states, “Alternatives are widely available and include human clinical and epidemiological studies; experiments with cadavers, volunteers,and patients; computer simulation and mathematical models; and in vitro (test tube) tissue culture techniques, to name just a
Hundreds of millions of animals lives are taken each year because of the “necessity” of testing products that don’t apply to animals whatsoever. Therefor, I hold my stance as an advocate, or being against animal testing in general. There are many advocates for this topic which is a positive aspect, but it is still happening out there. Once again I believe animals should not be tested on for products because all living things should be treated humanely, there are other ways to test products, and millions of animals are put to their death because of the
They fear that without these test subjects, humans will have no insight to what a chemical may do to them before using it. These fears though, would not be worsened by the elimination of animal testing; according to The Food and Drug Administration, about ninety-two out of a hundred drugs tested on animals, do not have the same reaction in humans. This number makes it clear that animal testing is far more destructive than it is effective. Recently, scientists have been more successful in growing cells of human body parts that can be used as a much better candidates for testing. Testing on an actual human organ rather than one that possesses some similarities clearly has a better success rate. Some of the areas these lab grown cells have majorly helped in include cancers, sepsis, kidney diseases, and AIDS. These new developments provide a logical reason to end animal testing altogether, but, many other factors also push for the end of this
There’s an Igbo and Yoruba proverb that states, “It takes a whole village to raise a child” (cite). This quote explains that a strong support system that is extended to relatives and family friends assists with an individual’s human behavior development and social environment. With African American culture, the relationship with religion entails that we possess a strong spiritual belief. Therefore shows that religion provides a sense of power and purpose greater than self through worship and praise as a substitute for mental and medical assistance in the African-American community. Hispanic cultures beliefs about health and illness The essence of both family and religion contributes similarities within these cultures because it helps with (idek). However, one of the differences of African-American and Hispanic cultures is their verbal and non-verbal communication (). For instance, Hispanics will not make direct eye contact as a sign of respect, uses a medium to high-level gestures, and their intrapersonal distance is less than an arm’s length. Alternatively, African-Americans typically convey themselves directly and lengthy for dialogue, uses frequent and sporadic large gestures, and interpersonal distance extends from appromixely four to twelve feet
McDonald’s was the first company to try to export America’s fast food and changes in eating habits to other nations. McDonald’s has over
Approximately two to four million animals have been used in safety tests. Safety tests are conducted with a wide range of chemicals and products, including drugs, vaccines, cosmetics, household cleaners, and packing materials. This raises issues such as the ethics and humaneness of deliberately poisoning animals, thus harming them, for the sake of marketing a new cosmetic or household product.
Have you ever wondered how the business empire of McDonalds was started? With over ninety nine billion served, it was started in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. It was started off as just a Bar-B-Q that served just twenty items. Its first mascot was named “Speedee” They eventually realized that by setting up their kitchen like an assembly line that they could be much more productive and get their food done faster, with every employee doing a specified job; the restaurants production rate became much higher. A milkshake machine vendor came into their small restaurant one day, his name was Ray Kroc. He saw how much potential the restaurant has, so he bought it out and opened one of the first franchises. Within the first year of Ray Kroc buying it, there were one hundred and two locations all around the world. McDonalds currently is one of the largest fast food restaurants in the world and currently has served over sixty four million customers through one of their thirty two thousand sites. It has almost become a way of life for America. Though, McDonalds started off as a small business between two brothers, it grew into one of the largest restaurant franchises in the world and greatly affects our society and how we eat our food.
Simple household items such as lotions, shampoos and cosmetics aren’t very expensive and are within reach for the public, yet the public is not knowledgeable of the fact that the products that they use everyday are put through a series of tests which involve the use of harmless animals. Several large commercial companies do not make products for animals; they decide that using these harmless creatures for the testing of their products, could be cause to be harmful to animals still go forward with these types of procedures on an everyday basis. Although these animals are unable to defend themselves or signs of any form of consent for the near death procedures, these companies find this as a cheap solution for testing their products before placing them on the market. There are many other alternatives to testing animals such as embryonic stem cell research. Animal experimentation is wrong and it can be avoided but companies which are greedy for money chose not to.
Hundreds of millions of animals die every year from animal testing in the United States. Innocent animals are used everyday in laboratories for biology advancements, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetic testing. They are used to provide information to make better products that are safe for human use. Although animal experimentation has some benefits, the negatives outweigh the positives. Animal testing is killing off innocent beings for the possible human benefit, and with modern technology, there are alternative ways to test products that leave animals unharmed.
McDonald's current customer environment is people on the go or people who don't want to spend a lot while going out and need something quick and good to eat. It is best stated in McDonald's mission statement that they want to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. As stated before, McDonald's has restaurants in 121 countries and has extensive global experience in customer service and satisfaction. McDonald's is excellent at researching an international area before building restaurant there. For example, in India McDonald's realized that the majority of the population was Hindu and vegetarian, they therefore, did not even bother to put beef or any other red meat on the menu.
This is the main cause that led several French farmers to protest against McDonald’s in 1999: According to an article in The Times (London), José Bové, a southern farm activist and leader of the protest became quite a hero with his campaign against American trade sanctions on Rocquefort cheese and other traditional French fare. He was arrested subsequently after leading a squad of farmers that ransacked a McDonald’s site at Millau, in the Aveyron départment. The region had been hit by Washington’s punitive duty on ewe’s cheese, imposed as part of the retaliation for Europe’s ban on hormone-fed American beef. “I am a hostage to global commercialisation” said Mr. Bove at the Montpellier courthouse during his trial. Accordingly so, Guy Kastler, another farmer, said: “We are here to defend the right of people to feed themselves with their own food in their own way against the determination of the United States to impose their way of eating on the whole planet.” (The Times [London], 1998.) Besides this, the farmers also protested against low prices, low-cost industrial methods and genetically modified crops. They feared the increasing domination of big retail distributors like McDonald’s. “José Bové has fulfilled every ecologist's dream: dismantling a McDonalds” [4] said Denis
Obesity is an ongoing problem in the world. After researching more on the topic, it has become not only a health problem but a controversial issue. Proponents believe that obesity is a disease. The definition of disease, the lifespan effects of obesity, and the genetics of obesity support the claim. Opponents believe that it is not a disease because it is just a result of eating too much and little activity. They believe because the obesity is centered around abnormalities. Obesity should not be considered a disease with support from health factors, statistics, and characteristics of other diseases. After my research, I know obesity can be argued in both directions.
Overall, McDonalds are able to reach customers all around the globe and they market their products inexpensively. According to Naim (2001, p. 1) it is acknowledged that, “McDonald 's is a global brand, but we run our business in a fundamentally different way that ought to appeal to some critics of globalization. We are a decentralized entrepreneurial network of locally owned stores that is very flexible and adapts very well to local conditions. We offer an opportunity to entrepreneurs to run a local business with local people supplied by a local infrastructure. Each creates a lot of small businesses around