McDonald’s: Globalization

McDonald’s opened its first Canadian drive-in in 1967. Its success convinced Kroc that McDonald’s should expand aggressively to other countries. It has continued to expand abroad ever since. Kroc had originally envisioned one thousand McDonald’s operations in the United States. When he died in 1984 at the age of eighty-one, there were 7,500 McDonald’s outlets worldwide.

By 1994, McDonald’s counted more than 4,500 restaurants in 73 foreign countries. As of 2011, McDonald’s operated over 1,000 restaurants in Japan alone. The most popular restaurant in Japan, measured by volume of customers, was McDonald’s. McDonald’s operates more than 1,000 restaurants in Japan alone. The McDonald’s operated near Red Square in Moscow has 900 seats and serves 40,000 people every day.