I suppose that, if Big Macs had been appealing enough, people in Bolivia would have been willing to pay the higher price. In the end, the local fare ended up being more palatable (and much cheaper, of course).
“I suppose that, if Big Macs had been appealing enough, people in Bolivia would have been willing to pay the higher price. In the end, the local fare ended up being more palatable (and much cheaper, of course)”
There you go, adding the cheaper part. Hence price, hence not very cultural. Look at it this way, Big Macs could be priced out of their appeal in the U.S., too, for instance if they cost 10 bucks a pop. But then what we’d be saying is not that Americans have a cultural aversion to Big Macs, but that they have an aversion to overpaying for Big Macs.
If this guy’s argument is that McDonald’s so goes against Bolivians’ culturally evolved palates that it couldn’t possibly be profitable, that’s one thing. In that case it wouldn’t be about price, as no price would suffice. But no, he says it was relatively more expensive than nearby local fare, which isn’t a cultural issue whatsoever. You could say, perhaps, that McDonald’s would have to be priced much lower than thje local fare to prevail, but, again, that’s not what he said. He said that local food was cheaper (and, oh yeah, “cultural”).
As to their “’close to the land’ relationship,” that’s probably because they don’t have a lot of alternatives. Also, lots of places have local food and McDonald’s. He’d have to explain what’s special about Bolivia, aside from relative poverty and a lack of a processed food industry. That would be cultural, in a sense. But America had the same culture, once, until it didn’t.
“dishes with traditional products ‘with intense and strong flavors and after many hours in the kitchen’”
Who the heck doesn’t like that? We have it here in the U.S. There’s a “cultural” difference, I’ll admit, in that we’re both too lazy and too busy to bother with it anymore. But, again, that will be true of Bolivia until it isn’t, and it can change with a blink. Also, McDonald’s is already successful in various nations without a history of fast food.