Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Hybrid Commerce, Human Capital, and Economic Dynamics (ICHCH 2025)

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The Digital Transformation Path and Challenges of McDonald’s China

Authors
Baochuan Ma1, *
1Durham University Business School, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
*Corresponding author. Email: baochuan.ma@durham.ac.uk
Corresponding Author
Baochuan Ma
Available Online 18 June 2026.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_13How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Digital Transformation; McDonald’s; China’s fast food market
Abstract

In today’s digital wave, many traditional chain enterprises are starting digital transformation due to technological advances and new consumer habits. This has led to new pressures of brand competition. As the most valuable fast food brand in the world today, McDonald’s naturally got involved in this transformation early on. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse McDonald’s transformation achievements and flaws in one country and provide follow-up plans. McDonald’s competitors can also refer to these plans. More specifically, this paper uses SWOT to analyse McDonald’s China’s current internal and external transformation. Internally, McDonald’s has a strong brand foundation, ample funding and years of collected data. These are considered the foundation of its digital transformation. But its internal problems are inadequate services and a high proportion of temporary workers. In terms of external opportunities, China’s digital economy accounts for 39.8% of GDP. The country also has a highly educated population and a huge food delivery market. However, the threat lies in the digitisation of competitors and the improvement of China’s data-related laws. Ultimately, McDonald’s can maintain its advantage through the three-stage plan outlined in this article while reducing the issues mentioned above. This article believes that this will help improve its competitiveness and customer satisfaction.

Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Hybrid Commerce, Human Capital, and Economic Dynamics (ICHCH 2025)
Series
Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research
Publication Date
18 June 2026
ISBN
978-2-38476-585-0
ISSN
2352-5428
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_13How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Baochuan Ma
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/18
TI  - The Digital Transformation Path and Challenges of McDonald’s China
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Hybrid Commerce, Human Capital, and Economic Dynamics (ICHCH 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 104
EP  - 110
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_13
ID  - Ma2026
ER  -