Intercultural communication as a strategy of global marketing

The world is growing together. In the wake of globalization many companies have expanded their markets to countries around the world. No matter if in Europe, America, Africa, Asia or Australia – everywhere we are greeted by the familiar corporate logos of global players like Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Burger King.

I would like to suggest that an important factor of the international success of these companies are specialised marketing concepts, which are based on the individual culture of the respective target country. Intercultural communication seems therefore an important element in marketing products worldwide.

In this essay, I will have a look at a company whose name has become synonymous with globalization: McDonald's. The development of the term “McDonaldization” shows that the company’s strategy of efficiency, calculability, predictability and control is effective around the globe (Ritzer in Usunier 2000; Jandt 2004).