State of being

 

The state of being is a cosmic mockery, a twisted joke that existence plays upon us. It is a cruel game of highs and lows, a never-ending cycle of glory and humiliation. For those of us who have tasted the sweet nectar of success, we know that it is nothing but a fleeting illusion, a mere momentary respite from the abyss of our own insignificance.

And yet, even as we bask in the glory of our achievements, we are haunted by the looming threat of betrayal and humiliation. Our closest companions, be they outsiders or our very own spouse, hold the power to bring us to our knees, to shatter the fragile shell of our self-worth and expose the emptiness at our core.

We are left with nothing but the bitter taste of regret, the knowledge that our once great achievements are nothing but a distant memory, fading into the abyss of time. We are forced to confront the stark reality of our own insignificance, the futility of our efforts, and the meaninglessness of our existence.

And yet, even in the depths of our despair, there is a certain perverse pleasure in our suffering. We revel in our own misery, finding solace in the thought that our pain is somehow noble, somehow meaningful. We cling to our suffering like a badge of honor, a mark of our own unique and tragic destiny.

For in the end, it is our suffering that defines us, that gives meaning to our existence. It is the one constant in a world of ever-shifting fortunes, the one thing that we can rely on to give us a sense of purpose and identity. And so, we embrace our pain, knowing that it is the only thing that truly belongs to us, the only thing that we can truly call our own.

Case study of internationalisation

 Introduction

This essay covers and analyses the process of internationalisation of a multinational firm from an advanced economy, investing in a developing or emerging country. We wish to understand the institutional framework and resource-based views that led to the decision to internationalise. This essay also covers the issues associated (likely) with distance and attempts to layout the resources i.e., knowledge, financials and ability to navigate to sustain and thrive in new lands. 

Chosen multinational for this study is McDonald’s, the largest fast food restaurant chain in the world, symbol of American culture, while the host market is India, 5^th largest economy by nominal and 3^rd largest by PPP. This entry is interesting from the point of view of eating habits as India cuisine has a large repertoire of indigenous food that can be cooked in 15-20 minutes, also the emphasis on healthy food by mothers.

 

McDonald’s – Largest fast food restaurant chain in the world

McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain with over $112bn system-wide and $23.2bn through over 40000 restaurants, owned as well as franchised, across 120 countries. The restaurant was established in Bernardino, California in 1940’s as a hamburger stand by the McDonald brothers. In 1954, Ray croc convinced the brothers to franchise out and eventually bought their share in 1961 (Love, 1986).

 

The growth of automobiles and state highways created conditions for the brand’s success. The Brand has continuously evolved to introduce new products i.e., BigMac Hamburger in 1968, company has grown to be one of the top brands and ranks 36^th amongst top brands globally with assets of over $56.3Bn (Annual Report ,2020).

Key success factor behind MacDonald’s growth and rise as world’s largest fast-food chain would be ‘convenience’ (Jim Nelson) Restaurants are so located in suburban towns and cities that you are never more than a few minutes away by car or by foot. This does not take away credit from another key ingredient of its success, the ability to serve a wide range of customers, at a very affordable price (Key Success Factors of McDonald’s, n.d.). The outlets maintain a clean and happy ambience that morphed into eating out places for families in many international markets.

 

India – Fastest growing large ‘Emerging Market’

India is the fastest growing large economy falling into the category of emerging markets as (IMF Country Report No. 21/230) it was amongst the fasted growing economies in the world for a decade, lifting roughly 400 million out of poverty, before the pandemic. National income increased 5 times between 2000-2019, thus creating a large middle class with purchasing power.

 

Figure 1: GNI India

With a median age of 28.4 in 2020 (India Population (2022) - Worldometer, n.d.), below 30 years constitute 60% of country’s population, it creates a long-term earning and consuming class.  It creates the possibility of a substantial shift in the shopping mindset of Indian consumers towards popular brands and products (Deloitte, 2011). With economic liberalisation and relaxation on FDI during mid 90’s, it made ample sense for McDonald’s to participate in the market. Before entering India, McDonald’s was already operating in over 116 countries, had over 3600 restaurants in Asia, 2500 of them in japan alone (Langert, 2019). 

 

After Japan, next were emerging economies of China and India along with Middle East region. McDonald’s made a successful entry into China in 1990, opening their first restaurant in Shenzhen (The History of McDonald’s in China, 2017). India became their next destination.

 

 

 

Literature analysis and review

There are multiple factors, internal as well as external, that play a role in the success and failure of firms, making a leap across their home base into other countries. A firm operating in its home environment has a better understanding, therefore    can manage and navigate business environment to achieve objectives. It can deliver better results and execute a quick and effective turnaround. It is not necessary to go across the border to grow always, as one can continue to re-segment and cater to newer emerging consumer groups but it may mean repositioning the brand, which is not an easy exercise always. When a company ventures abroad, success is not guaranteed. Thus, risk mitigation is an important aspect of analysis i.e., familiarity with the foreign market, competitive landscape, national institutions, Consumer habits.           

 

Thus, unified framework for analysis for a global business, adapting internationalisation strategies can help the organisation manage the risks better and avoid costly failures. I have used these frameworks to analyse and interpret McDonald’s internationalisation process and its franchise agreements with Connaught Plaza restaurants and Hard Castle restaurants. Under the unified framework approach, initial focus is on Resource based view, analysing firm’s specific resources and capabilities. All foreign firms face the issue of ‘Liability of Outsidership’ in the host country and the first act of guest firm is to mitigate this liability, possibly turning it into an asset. A great factor that aids in doing so are its unique & sustainable resources, products and services, which can create significant competition. 

A VRIO framework has been utilised in this study to understand McDonald’s resources and lay out the sustainable competitive advantage they have. Resources that are value creating, unique, difficult to imitate and internationally seeded, should be considered strategically relevant (Collinson et al., 2020). However, not all resources of the corporation are unique thus may not help create a competitive value-added strategy. 

Institution based view involves the game’s informal and formal rules governing and dealing with equal treatment of domestic and foreign firms, culture, norms, value that play an important role in determining the success and failure of foreign firms around the globe. Established institutions, such as banks and courts, as well as the ability to enforce contracts, all play a role in determining transaction costs. Host countries, with low uncertainty, stable policies and sound legal redressal system, help smoothen decision making for guest firms which also measure factors like impact of rapid globalisation on the firm’s market's growth while doing business away from its domiciled country.

Firms do follow a staggered stage model for internationalisation too where a foreign firm moves stage by stage to enter a foreign market. It conducts a market analysis and the and makes entry in stages like licensing, franchising, joint venture partnership and wholly owned subsidiaries (Mike W Peng author, 2016).

 

Internationalisation

McDonald’s as a business idea was designed to expand as it expressed the brand vision very simply and clearly “In business for yourself, but not by yourself” (‘Ray Kroc’, 2013), and witnessed steady internationalisation post the IPO. Beginning with the first store outside the USA in 1967, Canada, Puerto Rico and has constantly evolved. The company continued to learn, innovate and implement newer ideas throughout its history including a Big Mac, Egg Muffin and even ‘Drive through’ window concept. It is offering differentiated products, customer-friendly locations and gratifying customer services and building a stellar reputation of affordable and healthy food. All this has helped McDonald’s create a stellar brand equity that is prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to replicate for competitors. The brand symbol, Golden Arch, is distinct, ubiquitous and is symbol of American capitalism in most parts of the world. 

Germany (first European restaurant), Australia and then to Asia, is testimony to brand’s global ambition and relentless execution to realise that ambition. Important strategic decisions are a key factor to their success with consideration for both internal and external factors. While considering going to foreign market, like all other companies, McDonald’s too considers the risks and mitigates by adapting or tweaking to local needs and sensibilities, i.e., local marketing to appeal to the local consumers to build relationships and trust. 

 

From beginning, McDonald’s focussed on 

·      Standardisation, 

·      Cleanliness, 

·      Service 

·      Great value

These are prerequisites for simplifying operations, whether  based within or outside national borders. It started the internationalisation in stages, essentially into growth-oriented markets which provided a geographical diversification. It was one of the first firms to recognise the value of Franchising, fully owned and Joint venture companies as per the needs or dictates of markets, same as products. Big Macs are served without cheese in Israel (Kosher). In Malaysia and Singapore, it bears a halal (“clean'', “acceptable'') certificate, indicating the total absence of pork products. 

In UK, 70%  of restaurants are company owned while Australia, Canada, Japan (Subsidiary), New Zealand and Germany, the Company uses a mix of Joint venture and franchise model depending on the risk assessment etc. (McDonald’s History, n.d.). The company developed a franchising model that included an upfront franchise fee, a share of revenue, and rent on the building owned by McDonald's (O'Malley, Ouellette, Plourde, & Roy 2009). Franchised restaurants represented 93% of roughly 40000 McDonald's restaurants worldwide on December 31, 2020 (Financial Information, n.d.).

 

McDonald's has used acquisition as a strategy for growth, beginning with Boston Chicken in 2000, to improve the consumer experience (Query Builder | Acquisitions, n.d.). Franchise use Brand imagery, iconography, global product portfolio, recipes, process, training in lieu of the Fee.  Dynamic Yield Ltd. was acquired in 2019 to assist restaurants in varying their electronic menus, item display, and basis parameters such as weather, i.e., more coffee on cold days and McFlurries on hot days, depending on the time of day or regional preferences.

 

Internationalisation and entry into Indian Market

The country's food palette includes over a hundred different types of elaborate meals as well as quick, nutritious meals. India primarily is a vegetarian meal market, with 45–50% of the population identifying as primarily vegetarians (Ram, 2016). McDonald’s made its first attempts to understand the market in mid 1970’s. Post economic liberalisation of India in 1991, McDonald’s started tracking the trends in fast changing consumer habits. Survey constituted by McDonald’s pointed that Indian consumer were keen on American style burgers but didn’t believe it could be substitute for wholesome Indian meal. The Indian ‘Eating Out’ market was substantial but highly fragmented with no organized pan India player. There were plenty of fast-food options serving multiple cuisines i.ee, Udupi, Chaats, Namkeens, Pav Bhaji, Wada Pav, Pizza, Sandwich, Burgers and Chinese. Few regional or city specific chains with limited outlets existed i.e. Nirulas, Wimpys, Sagar Ratna, Kwality, Woodlands, Kamat’s and Tibb’s Frankie. 

 

In 1993, McDonald’s registered a 100% Subsidiary in India under the name McDonald’s India Pvt ltd (MIPL). Company reached out to few Indian entrepreneurs. MIPL signed up 50:50 JV partnerships, with an investment of $5mln each (Ahluwalia, 2017).

 

·      Connaught Plaza restaurants India Pvt ltd (CPRL) for North and East of India 

·      Hard castle restaurants Pvt ltd (HCRL) for South and west of India 

 

It took convincing by the company that it was willing to localise and change as per local needs. As Amit Jatia, managing director HCRL said that McDonald’s willingness to localise convinced him. " They promised that there would be no beef or pork on the menu” (‘How McDonald’s Conquered India’, 2014). The duration of the agreement was for 25 years. The India strategy was four phased: Entry, building the supply chain, aggressive growth and penetration. 

 

McDonalds’s exclusively set up quality international standard suppliers and distributors locally in India (Ahluwalia, 2017). There was substantial tech infusion and investment to build all this. Over a period most of these players also supplied to McDonald's in Europe and Asia (Pangarkar et al., 2010). 

 

First restaurant was opened in Delhi in 1996, followed soon after by the Mumbai restaurant. Initially these two biggest metros were targeted as these areas had high proportion of Target consumers. In the second phase, cities closer to Mumbai and Delhi, Pune and Gurgaon respectively, were targeted. High footfall areas i.e., Markets, Malls, corporate parks were targeted for new restaurants.

 

Franchise route has been McDonald’s preferred method of internationalisation for decades. However, in case of India, lack of large entrepreneurial base to choose from for partnering along with lack of quality supplier base may have prompted the Joint venture route.  The firm had to do heavy lifting in creating a whole vendor/Supplier network in the background. The choice of having two JV partners was an important part of risk mitigation given the large size of India.

 

Advantages of Alliance with Local Partners CPRL & HCRL

·      Alliance with local partners like HCRL with decades of experience in running consumer businesses (Forbes India - Amit Jatia And McDonald’s 15-Year Wait For Success, n.d.) part of a large Indian conglomerate, provides an edge to McDonald’s as the family understood long run view and could finance the losses.

 

Similarly, CPRL owned by Bakshi, was a renowned name in high end property circles and running his hospitality business. A self-made millionaire, Bakshi is director in many companies including biggest movie theatre chain PVR (MarketScreener, n.d.).

·      Alliance, partners were in a good position to help overcome the local bureaucratic, political concerns that were normal for country coming to terms with liberalisation

·      Partners being in Hospitality, understood the consumption trends, had deep pockets, they were fit to invest in delivering innovative and quality services to consumers

·      Possibility of McDonald’s presence in the largest multiplex chain could have been a good proposition as well

Despite the vast global experience of working with partners across geographies, McDonald’s still had to encounter some obstacles in the Indian market.

 

Indian Market challenges 

Menu challenge - Beef burgers were and still are taboo in Hindu majority India, where cows are revered and beef is prohibited. McDonald’s had to develop a special menu with large vegetarian content (over 60%) including eggless sandwich sauces, to meet Indian tastes, preferences. McDonald’s doesn’t offer beef and pork items in India. They recreated some of their products using spices as per Indian Palate and taste i.e., McVeggie burger, Veg. Pizza and McAloo Tikki burger.

 

Competition – India has its own version of quick service restaurants, with large cuisine to choose from i.e., Udupi, Nirulas (regional chain), Wimpeys, Sagar Ratna. Add to it KFC too entered around the same time. It became important for McDonald’s to change the perception of it being ‘American’ and unhealthy fast food. The brand chose the positioning of ‘Indian’ and promoter of Indian family values and culture. The communication used children, parents, and elderly grandparents to promote a place for family outings, subtly instilling in Indian mothers the idea that the restaurant served healthy food

 

Problem with Partner – In 2008, McDonald’s offered to buy out the stake of JV partner, CPRL, for a sum of $5mln (Ahluwalia, 2017) and the matter went through a series of legal battles over valuation and other rights. The issue was finally settled in 2019 but the Brand lost out to competition in terms of expansion. The JV with other partner was converted into a franchise agreement around 2008-09.

 

Pricing Factor –Consumers mentally measure the value they receive for the price they pay and it must always exceed the price. McDonald’s was conscious of not pricing it too cheap and not overcharging, thus they offered products at various price point starting with a McAloo Tikki Burger for Rs20 as a penetration strategy. To induce trials, they used Softy and Burgers at slightly higher prices than other restaurants. Overall, Pricing of Nirula’s, a Delhi based chain, was benchmarked (‘How McDonald’s Conquered India’, 2014).

 

Political Volatility –Entry of American Multinationals (KFC & McDonald’s) in food industry was opposed by farmers in many parts of the country in 1996. Politicians, animal rights activists, all went up in arms but largely vegetarian menu, with no beef or Pork and other precautions based on solid research made these protests go away slowly (‘To Curry Favor in India Debut, McDonald’s Sells Maharaja Macs’, 1996). 

If we analyse from the point of resource-based view the most valuable and indispensable thing for McDonald’s is the brand, followed by standardisation, flexibility/adaptability. Brand and its flexibility have most of what is required to offset the liability of outsidership and compete strongly. McDonald’s has time and again demonstrated that it remains on fair side of trading. It takes people all walks, trains them through youth opportunity and language communication programs (McDonald’s, 2019), gives back to society and maintains an admirable corporate social responsibility program.

A Resource-Based view comprising of, Value, Rarity, Imitability and Organisational (VRIO framework) aspects of the resources and capabilities of McDonald’s is used to analyse its relative competitiveness. VRIO framework brings a sustained advantage for McDonald’s Corporation owing to its unique strengths i.e., Well recognised brand, Standardisation, Flexibility, Value for Money, ability to innovate and adapt as per environmental needs.

 

 

Table 1 VRIO Analysis of McDonald’s Corporation.

Resources and Capabilities	Value Creating	Rarity	Imitability	Organisation	Competitive Implication
Global Brand Recognition (McDonald’s is the biggest Quick Service restaurant chain, ranked 36th top brand in the world)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Sustained Advantage
Considerate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Image (McDonald’s  provides educational  training  and employment through youth opportunity Language skill  programs – gives back to society )	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Temporary Advantage
Global Presence and Brand Portfolio (McDonald’s operates over 39000 outlets in 120 countries. It is an adaptive organisation despite emphasis on standardisation and offers a wide range of exceptional products worldwide	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Sustained Advantage
Socialising at McDonald’s (McDonald’s outlets from the beginning were positioned as family eating places, a place for meeting & dining with family and friends along with quality service)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Sustained Advantage

 

An institution-centric view assesses the complex, fast evolving relationship between the corporate organisation and the emerging market environment. Domestic as well as foreign firms do face and incorporate strategies to deal with Political, Societal and Legal challenges. A Joint-Venture with HCRL, was good while the one with CPRL, led to bad blood and a legal battle. Relationships with partners helped McDonalds with the formal rules of the game, Jatia family’s (HCRL) goodwill and the social brand image acted as social (Jains & strictly vegetarians) and political shield, nudged bureaucracy in terms of treatment uniform treatment of foreign and domestic firms. Furthermore, this factor has helped fuel the firms' progress. Other than formal rules, Ray Kroc had laid down McDonald’s values much before its internationalisation. Their mission statement, "The basis for our entire business is that we are ethical, truthful and dependable.” (McDonald’s, 2019, p2) talks about the values which they inherited and imbibed as an organisation. Add to this, rich Indian culture of family outings together must have given new insights to McDonald’s into human values. Result is that they have positioned the brand as family eating place.

 

Conclusion 

For many firms, international' growth is a very important part of their long-term growth strategy. McDonald’s internationalisation process which started in 1967 with Canada and extending into an emerging market of India, seems to have worked out well. Half of Indian operations, now run as a franchise model while the other half is manged by the company as last reported. It could have done better but for the time lost in legal battles ceding momentum to competition i.e., Pizza Hut, KFC. Currently there are roughly 468 restaurants in India as of December 2021 (Corporate McDonald’s). Overall Indian operations are profitable since 2007-08 as mentioned by both Partners in their respective interviews (Forbes India - Amit Jatia And McDonald’s 15-Year Wait For Success, n.d.).

 

From that perspective McDonald’s bet on India in early days of liberalisation seems to have paid off. Eating out culture is growing, with quick service restaurants (growth of 17% CAGR 2016-2020) and restaurant chains controlling 54% of the market. Overall market is expected to grow to the size of $11bn by the year 2025(India Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Report 2021 - ResearchAndMarkets.Com, n.d.). McDonald’s just needs to continue its focus on Product innovation and opening newer stores with Menu refresh. Brand is loved and is part of the growing up years of post economic liberalisation generation. 

 

McDonald’s venturing into the Indian market is a case of business humility, learning and adaptation. Even though MacDonald’s had tremendous international experience previously, it adapted to a joint-venture strategy instead of acquisition or any other process. Subsequent literature and media reports put the reason for opting for JV was the lack of knowledge on part of firm in terms of navigating Indian bureaucracy and laws, which JV partners brought into this relationship. Nevertheless, it was a wise move by McDonald’s to infiltrate a market that has multitude of options. Further growth in Indian Market, depends on Firm’s ability to continue innovation and adopt distinct marketing and brand positioning.

 

 

Reference 

 

Johnson, C. (1997). The New Rich in Asia: Mobile Phones, McDonalds and Middle-Class Revolution. Edited by Richard Robison and David S. G. Goodman. London and New York: Routledge, 1996. xii, 253 pp. $65.00 (cloth); $19.95 (paper). The Journal of Asian Studies, 56(1), 156-158. doi:10.2307/2646358

 

Deloitte. (2011). Indian Retail Market, Embracing a New Trajectory https://www.google.com/search?q=Indian+Retail+Market%2C+Embracing+a+New+Trajectory&rlz=1C1VDKB_enIN933IN933&oq=Indian+Retail+Market%2C+Embracing+a+New+Trajectory&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60.249j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Collinson, S., Narula, R., Rugman, A. M., & Qamar, A. (2020). International Business, 8th Edition. Pearson Education, Limited. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/suss/detail.action?docID=6401141

Mike W Peng author. (2016). International business (Second edition..). Cengage Learning EMEA.

Ahluwalia, H. (2017, December 25). Inside the McDonald’s-Vikram Bakshi controversy. Mint. https://www.livemint.com/Companies/Jxj8A0RLE0CkpWOoboaJ6J/Inside-the-McDonalds-Vikram-Bakshi-controversy.html

Financial Information. (n.d.-a). Retrieved 20 March 2022, from https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/investors/financial-information.html

Forbes India—Amit Jatia And McDonald’s 15-year Wait For Success. (n.d.). Forbes India. Retrieved 21 March 2022, from https://www.forbesindia.com/article/marwari-power/amit-jatia-and-mcdonalds-15year-wait-for-success/37353/0

How McDonald’s conquered India. (2014, November 19). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30115555

India GNI Per Capita 1962-2022. (n.d.). Retrieved 15 March 2022, from https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/IND/india/gni-per-capita

India one of the fastest-growing large economies: Niti Aayog CEO. (2022, February 22). IndBiz | Economic Diplomacy Division. https://indbiz.gov.in/india-one-of-the-fastest-growing-large-economies-niti-aayog-ceo/

India Population (2022)—Worldometer. (n.d.). Retrieved 15 March 2022, from http://srv1.worldometers.info/world-population/india-population/

India Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Report 2021—ResearchAndMarkets.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 22 March 2022, from https://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-quick-restaurant-qsr-market-132900020.html

It’s Official: McDonald’s Acquires Boston Market. (n.d.). QSR Magazine. Retrieved 20 March 2022, fromhttps://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/its-official-mcdonalds-acquires-boston-market

Jeon, H. J., Meiseberg, B., Dant, R. P., & Grünhagen, M. (2016). Cultural Convergence in Emerging Markets: The Case of McDonald’s in China and India. Journal of Small Business Management, 54(2), 732–749. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12168

Johnson, C. (1997). The New Rich in Asia: Mobile Phones, McDonalds and Middle-Class Revolution. Edited by Richard Robison and David S. G. Goodman. London and New York: Routledge, 1996. xii, 253 pp. 19.95 (paper). The Journal of Asian Studies, 56(1), 156–158. https://doi.org/10.2307/2646358

Kays, C. (2017). McDonald’s Corporation: Regilding the golden arches. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Key Success Factors of McDonald’s. (n.d.). Bizfluent. Retrieved 15 March 2022, from https://bizfluent.com/list-7427367-key-success-factors-mcdonald-s.html

Langert, B. (2019). The Battle to Do Good: Inside Mcdonald’s Sustainability Journey. Emerald Publishing Limited. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/suss/detail.action?docID=5630185

Love, J. F. (1986). McDonald’s: Behind the Arches. Bantam Books.

MarketScreener. (n.d.). Vikram Bakshi—Biography. Retrieved 21 March 2022, from https://www.marketscreener.com/business-leaders/Vikram-Bakshi-06YJMQ-E/biography/

McDonald’s Brand Ranking | All Brand Rankings where McDonald’s is listed! (n.d.). Retrieved 15 March 2022, from https://www.rankingthebrands.com/Brand-detail.aspx?brandID=7

McDonald’s History. (n.d.). Retrieved 15 March 2022, from https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-history.html

Munshi, N. (2012, September 4). India: Home of the meatless McDonald’s. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/6c18c3c6-7358-3ea4-b742-fe6d94a821e4

Pangarkar, N., Singh, K., & Heracleous, L. (2010). Business Strategy in Asia: A Casebook (3rd edition). Cengage Learning Asia.

Query Builder | Acquisitions. (n.d.). Crunchbase. Retrieved 20 March 2022, from https://www.crunchbase.com/search/acquisitions/field/organizations/num_acquisitions/mcdonalds

Ram, S. (2016, June 15). Vegetarians vs Non Vegetarians percentage in India. WorthvieW. https://www.worthview.com/vegetarians-vs-non-vegetarians-percentage-india/

Ray Kroc. (2013, June 30). Leaders Beyond the Brand. https://leadersbehindthebrand.wordpress.com/ray-croc/

Schlosser, E. (2012). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Singh, K., Pangarkar, N., & Heracleous, L. (2003). Business Strategy in Asia: A Casebook. Undefined.https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Business-Strategy-in-Asia%3A-A-Casebook-Singh-Pangarkar/031e738113bec5bf19424b8c74955ba2fd69e58a

The History of McDonald’s in China. (2017, December 4). Chinese Language Blog | Language and Culture of the Chinese-Speaking World. https://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/the-history-of-mcdonalds-in-china/

To Curry Favor in India Debut, McDonald’s Sells Maharaja Macs. (1996, October 17). Christian Science Monitor. https://www.csmonitor.com/1996/1017/101796.intl.intl.4.html

 

Dharma & Religion

The reason why "western universalism (XXXism) " is a big deal, fill in any of many things into the XXX, is that Dharmiks have been traditionally unable or unwilling to give a clear, coherent answer to the questions:

1. What are your core beliefs/values?

2. What is the hierarchy of your literature that I can go look up to learn more about these?

The answer usually degenerates into

1. The Question is Improper!

2. It is wrong to even THINK of Core Beliefs or Values, those are WESTERN concepts!

3. Our literature starts with the Vedas (sorry, it is blasphemy to speak of the Vedas as literature onlee), Ramayana (no that is not Vedas), BG (no, that is not Vedas), Puranas (obviously not)..

4. But my Core Belief is that if I don't dunk my skull into this pond, facing to the East and holding my nose and/or my ears, before 7AM every day, the whole Universe may go down the tubes. Rain or shine. If you try this in a land where the pond is frozen, well, that is your fault for cross the seas. Brasht onlee!

This is why XXXX Universalism and all other nonsense run riot in urban anglicised Indians, not to mention every where else. So develop clear answers. Or frame new questions that anyone can ask and get clear answers, that define SD/Hinduism/ whatever u call it.Is this meant to be "beliefs or values"? Is there an implication that values arise from beliefs? etc. Anyway, I will give an answer to move the conversation along:

The four goals of human existence are 'dharma, artha, kama, moksha'. The latter three are to be pursued in accordance with dharma. This is the core of Hindu life.

I think the problem starts when people ask Hindus about Hinduism. The assumption is that the Hindus must be knowledgeable about Hinduism. But most of the time, most of the Hindus are not knowledgeable about Hinduism. This is a very common thing in the world. Followers of most of the ideologies do not know the full details of their ideologies. People only know certain aspects of the ideology which they follow. Only those who study the ideologies in full detail would know it properly. Others would only have some vague and general knowledge.

So, most Hindus would have some knowledge about Dharma, Karma, re-incarnation, Gods, Goddesses, ...etc. But, they are not the right people to go to, if one wants the full knowledge about Hinduism. The best thing is to ask an expert(guru) or to consult the scripture when one wants know about a topic. That's why importance of guru has been stressed.

In Hinduism, there are 2 types of Dharma:

a) Samanya Dharma (General)

b) Vishesha Dharma (Special) (Contextual)

Samanya Dharma(General):

It seems, according to Manu:

" ahimsa satyam asteyam shaucham indriyanigrahametam samasikam dharmam chaaturvarnye abhravin manuh.."

Ahimsa(Non-violence), Satyam(Truth), Asteyam(Non-Stealing), Shaucham(Cleanliness) and Indriya-nigraham(Control of senses) are the Dharma of all the 4 varnas.

Most educated Indians are offered the choice of "Western Univeralism" versus Indian family values and they choose the former because they are unable to face up to questions or comments that state up front as they have barely read up on Dharma (our own education system under the successive governments ensured no learning of ancient scriptures/texts). Moreover, the education policy controlled by Marxists/Islamists ( It didn't help that Education ministers for first 20 years post independence were all muslims), deliberately put out the view that Hinduism is backward while monotheism is modern aka western construct.

1. The caste system is bad (whoops its easier to hide the fact that I and my entire extended family are Madhwa Brahmins than explain. So I say "yeah. Caste is bad. I don't follow it)

2. Idolatry is bad (oops we do have idols at home so I say "Well uh er not really. We believe in one God bla bla)

3. You believe in an elephant headed God or a bloodthirsty goddess? (Er um these are primitive beliefs. people are moving away from all that)

4. Do you believe in arranged marriages (oooops - mine was arranged so I'll say "Oh you see it's not like that you know. Nowadays you get to meet and get to know your future partner)Indians have, exactly as pointed out, internalized and accepted the characterizations of Indian society made by others.

It is those same others who are now offering us jobs and wealth and either we accept their definitions or we get branded as someone not worth associating with.Let alone explaining Sandhya vandanam which most people do not do, we are unable to admit that our jati is our extended family and our jati is still used in India for education and job reservations. So much for the lie that the "caste system" is going away. We find it difficult to point out that we have no caste. Only jati. But the connection of jati with profession does not exist any more. The system of jati ("caste") based reservation was precisely to remove the link between varna and jati. Unfortunately even the Indian legal system has internalized the western definition of caste.

The people who wrote our constitution and our lawmakers have internalized that.We are unable to explain that we still have arranged marriages. we are unable to say that Indian society is a family centered society. When you have a son or daughter, your mother or mother in law will come and live with you to help. But we are unable to admit that we are a family centered society. The system of arranged marriages was designed to remove family objections and interference in an attempt to reduce incompatibilities.

The fact that it does not necessarily work is not the point.There is absolutely nothing wrong with idol worship. In fact the name "idol worship" is a misnomer. The idol serves as a central point which serves as an area around which people collect for prayer. The concept of having a church or a mosque is also merely to have a collection point.

There is s philosophical issue in Christianity and Islam where it is alleged that if you sit in front of an image you will start believing that the image is God. This is complete nonsense. No Hindu believes that an image of God is God. The image is simply a meeting point for worship and prayer. Anyone who pays brief attention to the meaning of Hindu prayers (as recited in Sanskrit) will know that the first act of prayer in front of any idol is to pray to a formless omnipresent God to please come and occupy the idol for a brief while while you worship that god within that idol. "Invocations" that are sung before any Indian/Hindu function are simply a prayer-invitation for God to be present there and guide us. God is invariably "invoked" at the outset.

Note that we never blow out lamps or candles. Fire/Agni is life. We always light them. Next time you have a birthday party, light lamps, don't blow them out.The multiarmed "bloodthirsty" durga and the elephant headed God are simply artistic manifestations of stories of good over evil and the power of God to help you or make you feel better - no different from any other type of worship.

The route I take is that I have simply stopped referring to myself as a follower of a religion, but as a follower of Hindu dharma.Dharma and religion have some differences. Religion is the belief in and the worship of God and that is there for all Hindus who wish to worship God. But there is something more for those who do not believe in God.

The first is a system of moral values (dharma)The ten rules of Manu Dharma are:

• Patience (Dhriti) It is the most essential rule of Dharma...

• Forgiveness (Kshama) ...

• Piety or self control (Dama) ...

• Honesty (Asteya) ...

• Holiness (Shauch) ...

• Control of senses (Indraiya-nigrah) ...

• Reasoning (Dhi) ...

• Learning or knowledge (Vidya)

- to be followed whether or not you believe in God.The second is a philosophical exploration of the origins of the universe and cosmos - explanations that are said to become self evident if one is interested in following the rules of study, meditation and yoga that form part of the Hindu body of knowledge. 

In fact the Vedas deal in this most esoteric aspect of Hindu dharma. In my limited understanding, the primary axioms of Sanathana Dharma(Hinduism) is:

a)'Veda(s) are the eternal truth.'

b)'Veda(s) are divine. They are not man-made.'

c)'Veda(s) are the authority on all things.'

d) 'All the experiences, words, customs and ideologies of the people that are in consonance with the Vedic teachings are acceptable. 

And all the experiences, words, customs and ideologies of the people

contradictory to Vedic teachings are rejected.'The word Veda refers to all the four Vedas along with Vedanta(Upanishads).-------

Based on the above fundamental axioms, Indic philosophies have been categorised as 

Astika 

Nastika

Astika Philosophies are 6(Shat Darshanas). They accept the Vedic authority. They are:

a) Nyāyá, the school of logic (by Gautama)

b) Vaiśeṣika, the school that proposes atoms (by Kanada)

c) Sāṃkhya, the enumeration school (by Kapila)

d) Yoga, which assumes the metaphysics of Sāṃkhya (by Patanjali)

e) Mimāṃsā or Purva Mimāṃsā, the tradition of Vedic exegesis that stresses on the importance of Vedic rituals. (restored by Kumarilla Bhatta - who is disciple of Jaimini - who is disciple of Vyasa)

f) Vedanta or Uttara Mimāṃsā, the Upaniṣadic tradition.(restored by Adi Shankaracharya - who is disciple of Govinda Bhagavatpada - Gauda Bhagavatpada - Shuka - Vyasa)

Nastika philosophies. They reject the Vedic authority. They are:

a) Buddhism (supposedly by Siddhartha Gautama)

b) Jainism (supposedly by Rishabha, the first Tirthankara. Mahavira is the last of the 24 Tirthankaras.)

c) Cārvāka - Materialistic and hedonistic school of thought.-----

Then, there are Tantras or Agamas. The Tantras like Darshanas(Philosophies) can also be Vedic or Non-Vedic. All the Tantras/Agamas (or the aspects of Tantras) that are in consonance with Vedas are acceptable. Rest are rejected.

The Tantras also claim their origin from divine beings. Even so, if the teachings are contradictory to Vedas, they are rejected.-----Then, there are Smritis or Dharma Shaastras. 

Smritis are authored by the Rishis. They deal with the rules of conduct. There are several Smritis.The general rule is that the whole (or part) of a Smriti which is conflicting with Vedas is rejected.-----

Then, there are Itihasaas(Ramayana & Mahabharatha) along with the 18 Puranas and 18 Upa-Puranas. Generally, they can be treated similar to Dharma Shaastras.-----Finally, there are traditions of family. Each family follow certain traditions and customs which it has inherited from its ancestors. These traditions are also acceptable and encouraged as long as they are not in conflict with the above mentioned scriptural teachings.

To be continued to dissect Religion...

Credits : All learning and work of Johnee,Dr Shiv, A Gupta and many more