WorldCity Business Magazine

Big Mac Attack

by Peter Quinter

When it comes to promoting freedom around the world, nothing works better than international trade

Did you ever notice that, just a few years after McDonald’s put a huge restaurant right in the center of Moscow near Red Square, the Soviet Union collapsed? Or, have you ever stopped to notice what the weary traveler finds when he arrives at the very center of the cherished Forbidden City in Beijing, China? You guessed it Starbucks!

These are examples of the transformation of communist, centralized planning societies that are giving way to representative democracies and capitalism, and yes, individual freedoms. As soon as the Politburo members bit into a Big Mac, with its hamburger, lettuce, pickles, cheese, and special sauce on a sesame seed bun, it was the beginning of the end.

The exchange of ideas whether political, religious, economic or social—occurs when people from different societies get together. And international trade is the most significant historical means by which societies get together to learn about each other’s strange ways. It was as true for Marco Polo traveling from Italy to China, as it was for Christopher Colombus from Spain to the Americas, as it is today for a business person traveling through Miami International Airport to Brazil to discuss the purchase, say, of thousands of metric tons of organic sugar.

Whether it be McDonald’s, Starbucks, FedEx, Disney, Apple, Levi’s, or Coca-Cola, these are all American commercial icons that have established a global presence and, in the process, brought with them enormous cultural, social and economic change.

Consider the kind of change that the slogan "We absolutely, positively guarantee that it will get there overnight" must have had on the slumbering, inefficient, bureaucracy of the former Soviet Union with its infamous five year plans? Whether developing an in-country distribution network for the delivery of Coca- Cola bottles or FedEx packages, the philosophy, rules and processes of modern logistics cannot help but have a profound impact on the thinking and behavior of government officials and employees of the multinational corporation operating in any country.

Moreover, the "American way" of doing business means much more than just delivering on time. It has to do with many things, from the number of hours a day or week that an employee is expected to work, to the proper business dress and etiquette of the workplace, and, most important of all, to a system of compensation and promotions that is based upon merit and hard work.

North Korea is a country with none of the American icons mentioned above, where the American way of doing business does not occur, and with which the United States has had a long term economic embargo.

I admit that the North Korean people, on average, are thinner than the typical American because they do not consume too many burgers and sodas, but the totalitarian governmental structure has not changed and does not appear to be changing anytime soon. The country has been isolated for decades, and travel to and trade with other countries has been severely limited. Not surprisingly, the North Korean government, with its reckless nuclear ambitions, is a threat to world peace.

I say let McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Starbuck’s Levi’s, FedEx, and hundreds of other American, European, Canadian, Japanese, Taiwanese and South Korean companies go into North Korea. With thousands of international businessmen and businesswomen traveling to, doing business in, and perhaps living in North Korea, there is bound to be enormous positive changes. Somehow, I just can’t picture a North Korean officer pushing the nuclear button to begin World War III while listening to music on his Ipod, eating a Big Mac, drinking a Coca-Cola, and watching Disney’s latest movie delivered to him by FedEx.

If you want freedom, peace and prosperity, then open the doors to international trade. This is the promise of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the many free trade agreements in which the United States is a participant.

End the embargoes, send in the burgers.