A quantitative exploration of South African consumer's perception and response to Mc Donald's product adaptation

Abstract

This research study explores South African consumer’s perception and response to McDonald’s product adaptation, in order to determine whether multinational brands should standardise or adapt their product offering. This paper investigates the perceptions and responses that South African consumers have of the McDonald’s Boerie Burger, and may help global brands come to conclusions as to what business strategy they would prefer to implement within their organisation to ultimately create competitive advantage in the South African context. Brand adaptation may take on various forms such as; reworking of the brand’s name so that it is not offensive in foreign regions, and redesigning the brands packaging, jargon and most essential for this study, reshaping the products the brand offers to account for cultural norms, such as adding menu items that incorporate regional ingredients “McDonald’s- Boerie Burger (Boerewors flavour)”. To assist the research paper’s findings, 132 respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire which consisted of 15 questions. The respondents ranged in ages from 19 to 60 years old and were of diverse ethnicity and gender. The study followed a quantitative approach and data was analysed using descriptive analysis and thematic analysis for open ended questions. This study assumed that the McDonald’s product adaptation of their Boerie Burger contributed to consumers’ association and image of the global brand. This paper only addresses McDonald’s and how they have implemented product adaptation. Other multinational brands that make use of an adaptive business strategy were not assessed in this study, although it is a possible area for future studies, the nature and scope of this study does not allow research into all multinational brands.