Localization of McDonald's and KFC in China

Abstract

Localization strategy is a marketing strategy that addresses the buying habits, customer behavior, and overall cultural differences of a new consumer market. China is an emerging market with huge consumer potential and offers great opportunities for multinational companies to expand into the global market. However, joining the Chinese market is not easy and due to the vast social and cultural differences, Western companies need to discover the right marketing plan and adapt it quickly. This study uses China as the research site and the localized development of McDonald's and KFC in China as the research theme. It begins with a basic introduction of the two companies and then analyses what efforts they have made in localization by comparing supply chains, site selection and market positioning, respectively. The findings show that KFC has done a better job of localization in the Chinese consumer market than McDonald's, growing faster and expanding more, but that McDonald's has done a better job of standardization than KFC.