McDonald Japan Paper

Current Country Japan

Japan comprises four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. The size of Japan is just slightly bigger than Montana State. History wise, Japan is one of the world's most ethnically and culturally homogeneous nations, but its culture and society have been greatly influenced by foreign ideas and institutions, art and literature. Language is originally come from China, but Japanese developed their own language. Japan is one of the high standard economic countries in the world. After World War II, the Japanese economy expanded rapidly. As a result, Japan became the world's most successful export economy, generating massive trade surpluses and dominating such fields as automobile, consumer electronics, computer and robotics. They are third highest in the world after U.S and China in terms of GNP. As in many Asian countries, religion in Japan tends to be syncretism in nature. Japan's two major religions are Shinto and Buddhism.

McDonalds entered in Japan and they created different menu in order to adapt Japanese culture. For example, in the menu, they have teriyaki burger, shrimp filet burger, which cannot find them in American McDonalds. One of unique menu in Japanese McDonalds is menu called smile 0 yen. I lived in Japan, and every McDonalds have menu called smile. What that is if you order smile, workers will smile at you and it is free. And when you get a receipt, smile is also included in your order. This is part of their corporate strategy; their goal is to make every customer in every restaurant smile. Other unique Japanese McDonalds strategy is their business style. In 1994, Eikou Harada was designated as CEO, and changed Japanese McDonalds strategy. (McDonald's Japan implements American-style Management At Last). His tactic is to have global mindset, which means use more American style. In the article, the author writes, "McDonald's has suddenly announced that it will close 433 restaurants within a year. Why is the best-performing fast-food chain slashing more than 10% of its outlets? It is part of a plan by Eikoh Harada, chairman and president, to rid the company of the Japanese mindset that has been holding back growth." (McDonald's Japan implements American-style Management At Last). He also started new strategy called area franchises. The author writes, "Rather than a system that encouraged individuals to become owners of their own restaurant, he offered area franchises, in which a local company would be authorized to operate all outlets within a given business territory." (McDonald's Japan implements American-style Management At Last). These strategies cause McDonald to increase their profit a lot and adapted well in Japanese market.

The current recruitment and selection situation in McDonald's Japan is different than American McDonalds. First, Lifetime employment is common style in Japan and Japanese McDonalds. Usually, men and women are divided in the Japanese office by the notorious "two-track management system." This system consists of the male-dominated sogo shoku (management track) and the female-dominated ippan shoku (clerical track). (The Strengthening of the Toothless Lion: Japan's New Gender Equality Law). In the article, The Strengthening of the Toothless Lion: Japan's New Gender Equality Law, Gross and Minot write, "This two-track management system, associated with the Japanese lifetime employment system, tends to deprive both men and women of their freedom of choice. It pushes men on the management track to climb the ladder of success, and forces women on the clerical track to stay away from it." (The Strengthening of the Toothless Lion: Japan's New Gender Equality Law). Second, in McDonalds, there are more part-time employees than full-time employees. Most of part-time employees are high-school or college students. And those of people who cannot get the job after their education is called "freeter." The slang term, "freeter," derived from the English-German combination of "freearbeiter' is used to describe these individuals. (Economic Challenges Spur Non-Traditional Employment in Japan). Freeters often move from job to job depending upon the availability of part-time positions and are unable to gain significant work experience or

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