A Chinese lawyer filed a lawsuit against McDonald's for using English on receipts in their restaurants in China rather than Chinese. The basis of the lawsuit states that McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) is violating consumers' collective right-to-know by using a language other than Chinese on its receipts.
I should point out that McDonald's claims to have changed their receipts to Chinese during the month of July, and all advertising and menus have always been written in Chinese. However, I think this lawyer makes a valid point. Granted doing business in China can introduce obstacles, it's essential that any foreign company do everything in its power to not only adhere to laws and moral guidelines specific to that country where they plan to do business, but also acknowledge the unique apects of the marketplace.
When I read about this lawsuit, I was actually very surprised that McDonald's receipts in restaurants in China were not printed in Chinese right from the start. It seems like a no-brainer to me. I can't imagine why McDonald's would not want to print receipts in Chinese. From the perspective of the Chinese customer, I would think English receipts would be seen as a form of arrogance on the part of McDonald's, a US company.
What do you think? Was McDonald's just not thinking? Did they not notice that receipts were printing in English? Were they being arrogant?
I wonder if it’s more of a technical problem than a sign of American arrogance. I would guess that changing the computer systems to use Chinese is a big enough project that some delays and glitches are inevitable.
Posted by: Allan | July 28, 2007 5:45 PM | Permalink to Comment