日本マクドナルド創業者 藤田田の成功と失敗

The Success and Failure of Den Fujita : Founder of McDonald’s Japan

McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. was introduced to Japan in 1971 by Den Fujita. He introduced McDonald’s system directly: quality, service, cleanliness and value, trademark, manuals, and education systems. On the other hand, he changed the American way of management of McDonald’s: the Japanese pronunciation of McDonald’s, the location of the shops, not using the franchise system but having McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. operate them directly. Den Fujita has a right to change the American management method of McDonald’s from the beginning. When he met Ray Kroc, Den Fujita attached conditions to open McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. Firstly, the Japanese and American joint enterprise should be on equal partnership. Secondly, the profit of McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. would be re-invested in McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. And finally, Den Fujita will accept advice from McDonald’s U.S.A but will not accept orders. Ray Kroc accepted Fujita’s three conditions. For this reason, Fujita has a right to choose the location of shops in Japan, and he opened his shops in town, centers near train stations, and sometimes in department stores in Japan. These location strategies gave the name of McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd a high reputation. He also understood the substance of this business; McDonald’s is “fast cooked, high-speed service sales system”. This fast cooked, high-speed idea suited the Japanese in the 1970’s. In the 1980’s McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. gradually opened their shops in the suburbs furnished with drive-in window. In late 1987, McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. started a discount set menu (hamburger, drink and potatoes). Soon, Lotteria followed McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd.; they served set menus at a cheaper price than McDonald’s. To compete with Lotteria, McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. again reduced their set menu prices. At this time, other hamburger shops followed McDonald’s and Lotteria to reduce prices but they couldn’t make a profit. But MOS Burger (Japanese company, MOS means noble as a Mountain, employees minds should be as deep and wide as the Ocean, and employees should have passion as bright as the Sun) did not followed these discount menu at that time. In the early period of 1990’s the collapse of Japan’s overheated stock and real estate markets (the bubble economy), the Japanese hamburger business was influenced by this disintegration. Before the collapse of the Japanese economy, MOS Burger developed rice burger menu beginning from 1987. Other hamburger shops followed this Japanese rice menu. McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. served fried rice and curry and rice in their hamburger shops, but this was not successful. After this failure, McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. developed a strategy of lowest having the lowest price hamburgers, and opened a lots of small satellite shops. Den Fujita’s strategy was low-price, “fast cooked, high-speed service sales system”. His strategy seems successful during the collapse of the bubble economy and deflation. After the mid 1990’s, McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. changed their price many times. In 2002 and 2003, the income of McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. was at a loss, and Den Fujita retired his business in 2003.