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Location: Language Technology Center: Articles: A Day in the Life of the Globalization Manager at McDonald's Corporation

McDonald’s Corporation, the company that Ray Kroc built, has been selling hamburgers outside of the U.S. for decades. It certainly qualifies as one of the top global brands in today’s marketing vernacular, operating in 119 countries and deriving a significant portion of its revenues from outside of the U.S.

Each country implements the core McDonald’s menu to which in-country management is free to add localized menu items, e.g., the "Croque McDo" in France, the "Chicken Maharaja Mac" in India and salads in many parts of the world. International in scope, its Hamburger University is designed to deliver training programs targeting different management levels, ranging from restaurant managers to department heads and executives. In addition to the home office campus based in Oak Brook, Illinois in the U.S., there are two in Europe (London and Munich) and one each in Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and Sydney.

McDonald’s training programs are delivered in up to 40 languages, with the primary languages being Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), English (both International/Commonwealth and U.S.), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish for the top markets. The training materials consist of two elements: core content which applies globally for maintaining consistent food quality and services worldwide, and locale-specific content based on local menu items, food safety regulations and labor practices, etc.

The company continues to invest and support initiatives to adapt its products and services to different locales to ensure its global brand. Fully globalized, right? How could there be anything left for McDonald’s to learn in terms of staying on top in its international markets? To find out, please join us as we tag along with LISA Member Jia-Shin Chiu Osiel, Manager of Language Services for Worldwide Training, Learning & Development at McDonald’s, on a “typical day in the life of a Globalization Manager.” With full support (including financial) of senior management at McDonald’s, Osiel continues on her mission to bring globalization of business processes to the boardroom at McDonald’s.

Note from the Editor: The term "globalization" is used in this article to encompass all business processes required to design, create, test, market, sell, support, maintain and retire a product/service outside of a company’s domestic market.

7:30 – 8:00 AM Monday Morning, U.S. CST

Globalization Management Issue #1

In-country participation in product/service design, creation, testing, marketing, sales, support, maintenance and end-of-life

Required Management Abilities

Empathetic listening, synthesis, writing and negotiation skills

Current Challenge

Incorporating feedback from Brazil, Germany, Japan and the U.K. on future versions of training materials delivered by Osiel’s division

Jia-Shin Osiel, Manager of Language Services for Worldwide Training, Learning & Development (aka Globalization Manager), begins the morning commute to her office on the Oak Brook, Illinois (USA) campus of Hamburger University. As the car heads onto the expressway, she dials into her first conference call of the day – with the McDonald’s Country Managers from the U.K., Germany, Brazil and Japan.

The good news is that, overall, in-country management is pleased with the materials that Osiel’s team has created. After discussing the feedback, Osiel and the country managers eventually agree on a strategy to ensure that their input will be taken into account at the product design stage the next time this particular group at headquarters develops a product/service. Osiel will use the model to develop an enterprise-wide strategy for all product/service development groups. One small win at a time, Osiel reminds herself as she pushes the End Call button on her cell phone.

Osiel on Soliciting and Integrating International Feedback

“Soliciting and integrating international feedback at McDonald’s varies from project to project. My goal is to raise awareness within the company and to make it a corporate-wide requirement to involve the markets outside the U.S. at the earliest stages of product development. This is necessary to ensure that the product being developed, whether it is an application, a production procedure, a training manual, or a marketing campaign, will apply to as many markets as possible with little or no reworking. There are always many people in any global company who are not aware of internationalization requirements, or that there are certain things that you must do if you are developing something for the global market. McDonald’s is no different.”

“In the past, my division was only contacted AFTER a product had been developed and finalized for the global market without any consideration for internationalization. It used to be a common assumption that anything in English could be translated into other languages and implemented in other locales. Most people do not understand that the way in which a product or material is designed in English (or in any source language) has a lot to do with how easy or difficult it will be to localize for other locales.”

“My senior management now understands that it’s not enough simply to solicit feedback from various countries. Language Services needs to be involved at the onset of any global initiative to interpret the feedback for the corporate teams in terms of feature prioritization, what it means to implement something on a truly global scale, etc. For example, if it’s a Java application, here’s what you need to do. If it’s documentation, this is the application that you should use. My team members now serve as consultants to augment the expertise of our Operations folks.”

8:10 – 9:00 AM

Globalization Management Issue #2

Evangelizing up, down, across and throughout the organization that designing and creating a product/service for the global marketplace is an integral part of the original architecture, not a negotiable feature to be retrofitted at some later date

Required Management Abilities

Evangelization, negotiation, sales and presentation skills

Current Challenge

Choosing the right partners and vendors and running them through a “Globalization Audit” to determine their level of globalization knowledge and their ability to deliver a globally aware product/service on time

Osiel walks along the winding path around the small lake to her office.

She quickly reviews her email and voicemails and discovers that there is one urgent item. It turns out that the new software for a critical enterprise application cannot handle Spanish, let alone any other language. It’s only Monday morning (and just after 8:00 AM), but it’s time for yet another Introduction to Globalization presentation.

Osiel smiles to herself as she schedules a presentation for both internal Product Managers and the team of external consultants hired to design, create and deliver the software. Even though evangelization is not yet listed as part of her job description at McDonald’s, it’s one of her favorite responsibilities. The ability to deliver the same message over and over again as if it were new is not a talent that everyone possesses, but Osiel excels at it.

Osiel on Choosing the Right Partners and Vendors

"We at McDonald’s are always working on ways to increase customer satisfaction, which includes the development of top-notch applications to facilitate restaurant operations. Because our core business is to sell the best-tasting products, we partner with qualified external vendors to develop applications well-suited to our global markets. The Project Managers at McDonald’s serve as experts on McDonald’s operations, while the outside partner (specializing in a certain type of technology or application) is hired to undertake development.”

“However, it is rare to find a vendor who truly understands what it means to develop a product for global rollout – all too often, many vendors claim to have all the answers. Even when partnering with vendors with a global presence, it is not uncommon to find consultants who have no idea about internationalization requirements.”

“Whenever the internal department responsible recognizes that there might be a problem, they contact me immediately. I believe that it is the responsibility of my division to educate consultants with regards to what they need to know about developing a product that is truly world-ready and localizable.”

9:10 – 10:00 AM

Globalization Management Issue #3

Building a Globalization Team. No process = failure.

Required Management Abilities

Analytical & problem-solving skills, team building and process improvement

Osiel meets with her team. Together, they have come a long way from the internal translation agency that Osiel found when she arrived at McDonald’s a little over two years ago. With the support of the group itself and her management, Osiel changed the model to allow for the outsourcing of project management when it made sense. Currently, the team is composed of three supervisors and two consultants who function as Localization Project Managers, along with two project assistants who maintain all of the company’s linguistic assets (translation memories, glossaries, archived files, etc.) and who are responsible for formatting.

Osiel has taught McDonald’s that the key is to separate oneself from the external vendors. There are certain things that Osiel’s team can do for the company that a vendor cannot. In terms of agenda, a vendor’s main objective is usually to gain more business. But for Osiel’s team, the agenda is how to save the company money and how to implement the processes and standards for “doing things right the first time.” Therefore, it’s important for the team to educate people internally as to why an internal department is necessary to manage all of the external resources for different specialties, rather than to shift to a totally outsourced model.

Osiel on Process and Where She’s Heading With Her Team

“I’m very big on process because I believe that many problems are caused by either the wrong process or one that is non-existent. Before I came on board here at McDonald’s, there was no process for localization or translation! Most people think localization is as simple as converting one language into another. The attitude used to be, “Now we’re done, and it’s your job to take it from here to finish it.” There was no workflow or process to show how localization was linked to the planning, development and implementation of a product.”

“At the beginning of my crusade, there was more resistance than acceptance, more doubts than confidence, because people were so used to thinking of translation and localization as after thought. Our evangelism involves changing behavior and attitudes within other departments to follow a newly introduced localization process.

However, once people can actually see how having a localization process in place helps them to achieve their business objectives by allowing the products they develop to be available to global markets faster and cheaper, they are much more receptive to change. We now have that process in place. From the very beginning of a project, everyone is now involved and knows when certain things need to be done. All of my team members are prepared to handle a whole project as a project, rather than just their individual pieces.”

“I must give credit to the people with whom I have worked over the past two years. If they had not been open-minded enough to listen to me, no matter how much I knew or wanted to do, I would not have been able to get anywhere. In addition, I am extremely pleased to receive the right support from my senior management for transforming my department from a team of translators and reviewers to a center of excellence for globalization.”

“However, we still have a long way to go. Today, our team functions as a business partner with other departments within McDonald’s. Eventually, I would like us to have a say in the final decision for global initiatives. Right now, we don’t have that; rather, we partner with other departments as consultants through providing advice and suggestions, but the final decision is up to the department who is running the specific global initiative.”

10:10 – 11:00 AM

Globalization Management Issue #4

Evangelizing and training your own management (or “leadership,” as McDonald’s refers to it internally) is critical to the implementation and maintenance of a successful globalization strategy. These are the people who will carry your message (or not) up the chain to senior management and, if you’re truly successful in your mission, to the boardroom.

Required Management Abilities

Leadership & strategic focus

Current Challenges

Evangelizing her own management and repositioning how globalization is perceived within McDonald’s

Following her team meeting, Osiel walks down the hall to meet with her own manager. For globalization to make it to the boardroom, it almost always requires someone such as Osiel who is passionately committed to doing globalization right. That person then becomes the evangelist, and therefore a catalyst (whether consciously or unconsciously). It is critical for this person to be willing to work within the system, but also to have the ability to judge when to follow the rules and when to break them.

Osiel has an added challenge at McDonald’s when it comes to evangelizing her management and keeping their attention: her particular supervisor position is cycled into new functions every three years. This means that Osiel must re-educate and persuade new leaders (two in her case) frequently, with the rotations occurring at different times.

In spite of this rotation model, Osiel has been extremely pleased with the progress that she has made with all of her senior leadership. While the challenges she faces are no different from the challenges faced by globalization managers at other large global companies, she feels privileged to have tremendous support (financially in particular), from the senior management team at McDonald's to gradually set up the processes and infrastructure necessary for enterprise-wide globalization. The key to Osiel’s success in obtaining and maintaining her leadership support is her ability to remain strategically focused in aligning localization with business objectives. She has a clear idea about where she wants her department to be, and everything she does remains focused on bringing her department closer to that end goal.

Currently, Osiel is working with her senior management to create a communications strategy to market the value her department adds to McDonald’s and to reposition globalization in the eyes of the people who need her team’s consulting services the most, i.e., the Product Managers and their respective leadership who are struggling with the design and delivery of products/services that must go worldwide as soon as they are released to the market.

Osiel on Educating the Leadership at McDonald’s

“The fact that many of our projects are not architected nor budgeted globally is simply a reflection of McDonald’s corporate culture. On many levels, McDonald’s has been successful because it has consciously chosen to run its business in a decentralized way to survive in different countries and different cultures. This is why this same decentralized approach is used for localization, when maybe it’s not the right approach.”

“That’s where my group can be extremely valuable to McDonald’s. When I evangelize my leadership, my message is very clear: It may be necessary for us to do our business globally in a decentralized way, but there are more disadvantages than advantages, more cons than pros, to performing localization in this way. The leadership here at McDonald’s is starting to realize this now. In the past, there was no one here, such as myself, to share that knowledge with them in their language, i.e., with ROI numbers attached, showing what the company can save, etc. I use Visio to graphically represent workflow so that my managers can understand how people can be deployed more effectively and how costs can be reduced.”

“The localization model, which I initiated, allows McDonald’s to manage localization centrally, yet execute de-centrally, in order to shorten time-to-market of localized products and to reduce costs by reducing redundancies. This model has been applied to several large-scale global initiatives and has been well-received.”

“Evangelizing my leadership is a key part of my job. There are things that I know that others don’t, so I have a responsibility to make them aware of them. Of course, I don’t have to say that that’s what I’m doing – I do it by simply integrating globalization into everything that I do.”

“I am lucky in that the leadership in my department is championing globalization at the executive VP level at McDonald’s. She sees the value of what I’m trying to do and is very supportive.”

11:10 – 11:15

Globalization Management Issue #5

Re-educating vendors to support and partner, instead of compete, with in-house Globalization Managers in implementing their globalization strategies

Required Management Abilities

Negotiation and vendor management skills

Osiel accepts a forwarded call from her director from yet another salesperson from a global content management company hoping to capture a piece of Hamburger University’s significant budget for globalization-related services. This caller has made a gross error by attempting to bypass Osiel to go higher within the organization. She will soon find out that Osiel is the only one who can make the recommendation regarding vendor selection.

Osiel is especially disappointed in this case with the vendor because she has taken the time to educate the salesperson about the sales process and how McDonald’s will make its decision. The call is short – less than 3 minutes.

Noon – 1:00 PM

After a quick and satisfying lunch at the McDonald’s restaurant located on campus, Osiel orders a cup of Chai Latte from McCafe to drink as she walks along the lake to return to her office.

Globalization Management Issue #6

Successfully performing one’s “regular day job” while building a globalization management function

Required Management Abilities

Multi-tasking and task delegation abilities, supported by a high energy level Osiel meets for the second time today with her team, this time to review project schedules to uncover and deal with any risks that may prevent on-time, high-quality deliverables.

The evangelism component of a Globalization Manager’s job is almost always in addition to her “regular day job.” Currently, Osiel does most of the consulting herself, along with people management and public relations for the department. She also manages projects, especially at the beginning stages, since she’s the one who sets the strategy and approach. Sometimes, she must even set up the localization process because that’s the part that the people in other departments don’t know how to do. Once an entire localization project has been scoped, scheduled and costed, it is then assigned to one of the Localization Project Managers, who is then responsible for the ongoing, day-to-day project management.

Osiel on What It’s Like to Be an Evangelist

“I’m basically running a race to get to specific milestones by particular times. There is a need to show a certain amount of success within a certain timeframe to get to the next step. In the past, neither business planning nor promotion was considered to be the responsibility of the person in my position.”

“Taking on these responsibilities and obligations makes me a lot busier than I am already, but I believe that these things must be done for us to get to the next level. We must reach certain milestones for McDonald’s to be able to progress towards being truly global enterprise-wide.”

1:10 – 1:45 PM

Globalization Management Issue #7

Using a matrix organization to implement a successful globalization strategy

Required Management Abilities

Performance management and organizational development

Current Challenge

How to tie global project knowledge to performance objectives enterprise-wide

Osiel and her manager meet to discuss the possibilities of tying global project knowledge to job performance at McDonald’s. Osiel has already convinced her manager that, in order for people to take globalization seriously, those who are involved in the development/design of products/materials for global rollout need to be held accountable for the localizability of the final deliverables. There will be a lot of work to do, and this change will only be implemented over time, but it will be key to ensuring that globalization becomes part of the fabric of the organization.

Osiel on Tying Global Project Knowledge to Performance Objectives Enterprise-wide

“After I first joined McDonald’s, I started organizing workshops for localization project management and for designing documentation for international audiences. However, I soon realized that if we didn’t have buy-in from the leadership, no one was going to come – everyone is so busy with their day-to-day work.”

“It also turns out that the performance review is a very important tool for motivating a person to do something, even if it’s not something s/he wants to do. So, in addition to making these seminars available and obtaining leadership buy-in, there have to be incentives and motivation to make people want to come. So, the question is how to tie this into the competencies of the people who are developing global products/services.”

2:00 – 3:20 PM

Globalization Management Issue #8

Implementing a globalization management system (GMS)

Required Management Abilities

Strategic focus and process improvement

Current Challenge

Locate a GMS solution that fits current workflow and meets business needs

Recognizing the need for a GMS within the McDonald’s system to facilitate and streamline the localization process, Osiel put together a business case about the benefits of GMS and won leadership buy-in. However, it turns out that the real challenge lies in finding a product that fits the criteria defined by Osiel’s team, based on the current workflow and the unique business context at McDonald’s, without requiring extensive customization. Osiel and her team meet to debrief one another on the demos they have reviewed over the past few months for various GMS.

Osiel on Using a GMS as a Tool in McDonald’s “Globalization Makeover”

“McDonald’s needs a GMS in order to create synergies between Language Services on the corporate side and the in-country translation teams at the local level. Some countries have their own translation teams in-house, and some countries use external teams. I believe that it is the responsibility of Language Services to tie all of these different teams together on one platform, rather than all of us continuing to operate independently.”

“Most of the folks in-country, even when they do translation, are usually very traditional translators. This means that they generally aren’t familiar with the concept of translation memory (TM) or with language technology such as TRADOS. Another objective for Language Services is to educate these people as to the tools and processes available, and to introduce them to organizations like LISA, so that they become aware that there are tools and processes that can be incorporated into one primary workflow that will benefit all of McDonald’s.”

“Once the GMS is implemented, we will be able – at any time – to know what is being localized in Asia, its status and the type of corporate support that may be required. The same thing for Europe and other areas of the world where McDonald’s is present. We will then be able to plan ahead to ensure that the in-country teams have access to the right resources at the right time. Or when the teams need to work with external vendors, we will be able to provide them with the selection criteria, e.g., one that has already adopted the TMX standard so that we can leverage TM resources.”

“A GMS is one of the tools that will help McDonald’s get to the next level of being a globally aware enterprise. It will also help us save on localization costs by leveraging TM. The leadership in my department is very supportive of what I have proposed.”

3:30 – 5:00 PM

Globalization Management Issue #9

The Global Business Process Challenge: Teaching Product/Project Managers how to transform project planning from a U.S.-centric focus (“throwing it over the wall”) to a global focus (implementing a rational business process to incorporate international requirements/feedback up-front).

Required Management Abilities

Evangelization, negotiation, persuasion and presentation skills

Current Challenge

Convincing a reluctant Project Team that the up-front investment in globalization is worth it

Osiel walks across campus to meet with a Project Team, consisting of both internal Project Managers and outside software consultants, which has recently discovered that Osiel’s team exists. Though a bit leery of the extra work that architecting globalization into their original specifications may require, the various team members are painfully aware that simply “throwing something over the wall” to the countries and waiting for problems to be reported is not working. They have asked Osiel to help them understand what will be required of them if they decide to architect globalization into their next project through a presentation on (1) case studies from other groups that have architected globalization into their projects the first time around and (2) numbers to show the last few non-believers in the group why McDonald’s will earn more from “doing it right” than from continuing to “throw it over the wall” to the country organizations.

Osiel always looks forward to trying out a new presentation on groups that are not totally convinced that the up-front investment in time, effort and money in globalization is actually worth it. There is always a lot of “give and take,” but so far at McDonald’s, globalization is making steady headway into the company’s business processes.

The group today is no different. As Osiel delves deeper into what the various team members are not telling her, she realizes that their overriding issue is their tight schedule. “Throwing it over the wall” is the only way that they perceive to make the schedule. Osiel decides to lead the group in a role-play exercise in which they assume that there is no choice – they must meet the revenue goal attainable through “doing it right,” yet not change the schedule.

It takes awhile, but eventually the Project Team comes to realize how they can reprioritize a few non-globalization-related features, farm out a piece of the code to one of the in-country offices of the outside software consultants, and even come in ahead of schedule. There are risks, but they are entirely manageable, since they are being recognized and documented up-front.

The session has lasted much longer than anticipated, but Osiel leaves, feeling that this represents a big win. This group is composed of some well-respected Project Managers and software developers who are always extremely vocal. She now expects the message about the expertise of her group to spread more quickly to other groups, thus increasing the number of requests for their help.

Osiel on the Implications of “Throwing It Over the Wall”

“As is the case with many global companies, Project Managers at corporate headquarters often focus most of their effort and resources on development. Then the product/service is handed off to the countries for implementation, with any internationalization/localization problems theirs to solve.”

“The common problem with a decentralized approach for globalization adopted by any global company is that the people at headquarters consider that their responsibility ends when they develop something in English and deliver it. They don’t recognize or understand the issues faced by the countries or how they struggle to localize the English version. They don’t experience enough pain to learn what they need to do during the development process to make it easier for localization.”

“The implication of this very decentralized approach is that there is a big gap between the people who develop something for the countries, and for the people who must use it. Since corporate headquarters does not provide funding for localization , many hidden costs are overlooked, e.g., how much the countries are spending on their individual localization projections, or the duplication between different countries.”

“Language Services is now bridging this gap in two ways. We are clearly communicating at the corporate level the costs of a decentralized vs. a centralized approach to internationalization and localization. And perhaps more importantly, we are consulting with as many project teams as possible to educate them as to how McDonald’s will come out ahead if they work in concert with the countries, rather than just throwing their projects over the wall. The latter may certainly appear to be convenient in the short-term, but always ends up being more costly and time-consuming in the long run.”

5:10 – 6:00 PM

Globalization Management Issue #10

Developing a globalization strategy for the organization and managing the localization budgets

Required Management Abilities

Business management, strategic planning and leadership skills

Current Challenge

Undertaking the director role in setting directions for globalization/internationalization/localization, in addition to her responsibilities of managing people and projects

After a full day of back-to-back meetings, Osiel finally sits down at her desk to work on localization strategies and funding proposals for the localization initiatives she has proposed for her department for 2005. Even though Osiel’s main responsibilities as a manager of a localization team is people and program management, she is also expected to develop globalization strategies for the organization – her team is the only business unit within McDonald’s with this expertise.

Osiel’s team has always been overseen by a director with a strong operational background in the McDonald’s system, instead of by a director with GILT (globalization / internationalization / localization / translation) expertise. In the past, Osiel’s predecessors focused primarily on the delivery of translation and interpretation services. Recognizing the importance of taking the leadership role to set globalization strategies to influence and improve localization processes, Osiel has taken it upon herself to develop and implement a globalization strategy. This is in addition to her already busy schedule managing her team and overseeing the various localization projects enterprise-wide.

Osiel on What It’s Like to Be a Global Corporation’s Globalization Evangelist

“McDonald’s is a great company to work for. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to make a difference to a global giant like McDonald’s with my expertise in globalization. What I enjoy most about working here is the room I am given by my senior management to improve on the existing globalization processes. My job is both challenging and satisfying.”

“The next milestone of my journey here at McDonald’s will be achieved when my department is viewed as a true Center of Excellence on globalization/internationalization/localization within the McDonald’s system, AND there is a seat reserved in the board room for a globalization director who is respected for her specialized expertise in how to help our business grow globally through best practices in globalization/internationalization/localization.”

6:30 PM, Monday evening

Osiel arrives home, tired but extremely satisfied after a long day of championing globalization.

Jia-Shin Chiu Osiel is Manager of Language Services for Worldwide Training, Learning & Development at McDonald’s Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois in the U.S.

Rebecca Ray (Rebecca@lisa.org) is the Global Business Editor for the Globalization Insider and is co-author of the book, Doing Business in the USA: Marketing and Operations Strategies for Success. She has been a pioneer in designing, testing, adapting and marketing software worldwide for companies such as IBM, Netscape Communications, Symantec and Sun Microsystems. Rebecca is fluent in English, French and Spanish and proficient in Portuguese and Turkish.