Introduction The history of the McDonald’s Corporation dates back to 1954 when a man by the name of Ray Kroc heard about Mac and Dick McDonald, two brothers who were running a burger and shakes joint in San Bernardino, California. Kroc paid the two brothers a visit and this visit culminated in a franchising agreement to use the McDonald’s name limitlessly. Seven years later and with more than one hundred and thirty McDonald’s restaurants across the United States, Ray Kroc bought the chain from the McDonald’s brothers for 2.7 million dollars. The growth of McDonald’s Corporation continued in the United States and soon Kroc set his eyes on markets away from home (Ko, 2008). Today, the McDonald’s Corporation is the leading fast-food chain globally, and owns the restaurants in different continents: South America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and even Africa. This paper examines the internationalization of the McDonald’s Corporation. What factors have led to the success of McDonald’s growth across the globe? What strategy does the company use? What are some of the challenges it is facing in its expansion efforts and how does it overcome them? These are some of the questions that this paper addresses. Although the McDonald’s Corporation has expanded into operations in different countries and regions, the focus of this paper will be on the corporation’s expansion in China. McDonald’s Entry into the Chinese Market: 1990 – to date Due to the diverse cultural beliefs and practices between the Americans and the Chinese, examining McDonald’s development in China is an interesting discovery. Indeed, the success of an all-American business in China warrants investigation. Moreover, China is the world’s largest emerging market and is characterized by a high demand potential but at the same time high risk and is therefore the envy of any international corporation that seeks to expand. The McDonald’s Corporation first set foot in China in 1990 when it opened its first outlet in Shenzhen. At the time of McDonald’s first entry, the concept of Western fast food was not new to the Chinese because of the presence of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) which opened business in China in 1987. For the last two decades, McDonald’s growth in China has been behemoth. By the end of 2007, the fast food chain giant had hit a target of 1000 outlets in China (Ko, 2008). The success of McDonald’s Corporation is mainly attributed to the strategy it uses to expand internationally. The management of the corporation took into consideration the cultural differences between the United States and China. According to Hofstede (2004), societies can be categorized based on four dimensions, namely: “power distance, collectivism versus individualism, femininity versus masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance” (p. 56). The Western and Chinese societies differ in all these dimensions. Any Western corporation that wants to succeed in a culturally diverse society like China needs not only understand cultural beliefs and practices of this culture, but also put them into practice. For instance, China is a collectivist society and as such, the Chinese people value friendships, family, and personal relationships. Trust and mutual respect are al