Globalization

Brands like McDonald’s, KFC and Starbucks are truly global brands. Even in China you can find McD’s and KFC’s in secondary and even third-tier cities, and also Starbucks is growing rapidly. This weekend, for example, I had coffee and a brownie in a Starbucks in Nanjing. OK, the staff at the Sofitel Nanjing had never heard of XinBaKe (is this actually the right pinyin for the Chinese name of Starbucks?), but while driving through the city center I spotted the coffee chain right away.

On the internet I came accross a nice chart that compares the internationalization of Starbucks and McDonalds. Comparing the two brands it immediately struck me that Africa is still mainly virgin territory for both companies. But in Asia both are quite well represented. Japan is not surprisingly still the biggest market for both brands, but China is up-and-coming. Note that this map is based on data for 2003; with data for 2006 both Starbucks and McD would be a lot bigger in China, overtaking most other Asian countries. I wonder when the first Chinese fastfood chain will expand internationally.