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On February 10th, 2014, Vietnam officially welcomed McDonald's first fast food restaurant
into the country, under the cooperation between McDonald itself and Henry Nguyen, or Nguyen
Bao Hoang, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, as its local franchisee.
( quick video of him) On the opening day, under the hot Sunday sun
, yet McDonald was like the center of the town where music blasted the whole town with
customers waiting in line for hours to get a taste of the American fast-food giant' offerings.
According to Vietnamese media, located in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's
commercial center, the McDonald's branch has a 24-hour drive-through service and will feature
the usual menu classics, plus some items to cater to local tastes.
Despite the Vietnamese economy's recent slowdown, foreign brands are popular among the youthful
population whose parents had few of the food and lifestyle options now available in the
country, proven by the fact Starbucks, Subway, Burger King, and KFC all have a presence here.
The opening of McDonald's 10,000th restaurant located at Vietnam, specifically Ho Chi Minh
City, has become the hot topic over the course of few days for both Vietnamese local newspaper
and other famous newspaper title like NY Times, BBC, CNN, under the impression of capitalism
entering the socialist market. And this shall be the topic of the TOK presentation, under
the knowledge question of: To what extent does imperialism affect local
ideology? So now, what is imperialism?
According to oxford dictionary, imperialism is the policy of extending the rule or authority
of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding countries and
dependencies. But nowadays, we define it as something rather same concept with different
but similar purpose. In terms of economic definition, it is a situation in which one
country has a lot of economic power or influence over others. And this is exactly what is happening
in Vietnam right now, where, briefly summarize, the country is accepting many foreign brands
from food to fashion to the Vietnamese market in competition with many other domestic companies.
Such foreign brands like Burger Kings, Domino's Pizza, Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Subway,
Starbucks, and McDonalds ...had consecutively entered the Vietnamese markets, and needlessly,
they are gradually taking over the Vietnamese's fast food field.
McDonald is known as the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving
around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. The Golden Age of McDonald surprising now
not in the domestic of where it originate, as 65% of its income revenue comes from overseas
and foreign cooperation. There are negatives and positives toward McDonalds entering Vietnam,
regarding the said perspective of capitalism "attacking" socialist economy. Therefore,
from the way we perceive the situation, it is claim and answer to the knowledge issue
that: Imperialism although has a significant effect
on local ideologies, however it still subjected to local ideologies influence.
Per say, the claim just made indeed lie towards the middle of the spectrum, between the two
extremes, which also are the counterclaims regarding the knowledge question, with the
left end claims that imperialism affect local's ideologies, while the right ends claims that
imperialism is subjected to local's ideologies. So, instead of talking about the claim first,
since it lies in the middle of the spectrum, we will talk about the two extremes first,
starting with imperialism affects local's ideologies. McDonald has only been established in Vietnam
since last month, Feb 10th, therefore it is hard to tell its major "capitalism" effects
upon Vietnamese ideology, regarding economy and culture. But regarding the generalize
of the counterclaim, that imperialism affected local ideology, we could use the situation
in China as the closest example in relation to Vietnamese's McDonald, since both countries
share the closest governing and cultural system. A decade ago, much like the current Vietnam
right now, China had been the number one market for McDonald to grow. McDonald, which is a
representation of Western imperialism on China, has soon taken over Chinese fast food market.
Much like other developing countries, China was putting other developed countries, which
are mostly Western countries, as its model for development. In this process, it is also
subjected to a gradual, almost unnoticed absorption of Western ideology. This is the case when
a less dominant ideology has to adapt itself to a more dominant ideology, the concept of
imperialism. Projecting Chinese case into present-day McDonald's
arrival to Vietnam, it can be interpreted that history is repeating itself. Related
to history as an area of knowing, the case of China can be viewed as foreshadowing to
Vietnam's future. From China case alone, it could be shown that such richness in culture
like traditional Chinese food is being overshadowed by unhealthy fast food chains, and businesses
regarding tradition cuisine are being overpowered by foreign estates.
Regarding the pace rates, from sense perception as a way of knowing, it is predictable of
the massive spreads of McDonald over Vietnam in the near future, taking into account the
convenience of Vietnamese's currents openness to foreign business.
Not only affecting the lifestyle of people, particular brand like McDonald also have significant
impacts on the local ideology and local economic standpoint. McDonald, which doesn't provide
specific earnings numbers for China, has nearly 2,000 units in the country. This is not hard
to happen in Vietnam, since such other foreign brand like Starbucks already able to open
three stores in the city within one year working, and rival brand with McDonald like Burger
Kings has already open 24 stores around Ho Chi Minh City over 2 years since establishment
in Vietnam. Even though McDonald is one of the most competitive fast food brands in China,
it was able to minimize its expenses on income tax with annual report of low profit due to
various reasons, from chicken flu to avian influenza dampened restaurant traffic. The
countries governments do not get much tax revenue from the Giant Fast Food Chain, even
if its reported incomes reached almost million USD every year. Imperialism of capitalism
had a huge impact on the local socialist ideology here, due to the fact that in socialist ideology,
business is to be set under strict government controls and subjected to heavy income tax.
The next counterclaim is the other endpoint of our spectrum, which state imperialism is
subjected to local's ideologies. As viewed by the other mass of population,
McDonald, itself, is subjected to the government's influence. Recalled the reason for why McDonald
did not enter Vietnam, it was because of the long standing dispute between McDonald's need
to use imported beef and Vietnam's need for business within the country to support to
local goods. This dispute, with both sides refusing to compromise, eventually led to
McDonald's decision to not enter into Vietnam market. This past decision, here, shows how
local ideology rejects the influence of another ideology. Shifting back to the current situation,
McDonald's arrival to Vietnam could be seen as the yielding of local ideology to the capitalist
ideology, to McDonald's imperialism on the fast food market.
Yet, it should be taken into account the one who brought McDonald to Vietnam. It was not
easy to imagine the mere resistance of Vietnam's political point of view on the entering of
the leading company in the capitalist world. As a matter of fact, McDonald was brought
in by Nguyen Bao Hoang, who is the son-in-law of current Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
With others being unable to bring McDonald to Vietnam, but Nguyen Bao Hoang, it seems
to the public that there is an indisputable link between McDonald's arrival and its relationship
with the government. Still, it should also be acknowledged that this way of knowing is
based on intuition only, since there is no clear evidence showing the link. Further clarifying
this, McDonald could not have come into Vietnam without the government's acceptance.
Relating back to the view that McDonald's is subjected to Vietnam influences, its dependent
on the government is one of the evidences. It is worth noticing the position of McDonald
in the world of capitalism. In the world of capitalism, McDonald operates with freedom,
subjected to the tax of 31.3% in US, 15% in Canada, 12% in India, and 16% in Hong Kong.
Yet, in Vietnam, McDonald is subjected to a tax rate of astonishingly high 41%. In capitalist
countries, businesses are to be operated with little or no government's interference.
The profit is mainly to be owned by the companies. However, in this case, over 40 percent of
income tax shows how significant the effect of local ideologies has on foreign and more
dominant ideologies. Capitalist imperialism here has no effect on the Socialist policy,
where businesses are to be controlled heavily by the government of Vietnam. This way of
acquiring knowledge is based fundamentally on reason, since the deductions are arrived
from reliable statistics. Now, we will divert your attention back to
the claim stated at first, which again, lies in between the two extremes ends of the spectrum,
that: Imperialism although has a significant effect
on local ideologies, however it still subjected to local ideologies influence.
It is fully aware that this claim is pretty much half about imperialism affects local
ideology but while also haft about how it under the influences of imperialism. This
is pretty much what Vietnam is under right now. Vietnamese government practices socialism,
but nowadays as the country is moving towards further development, it is inevitable not
to have foreign investments and having to open up the culture to various foreign practices.
It is indeed not entirely bad, it contributes to the development of the country, but everything
comes with a price. Like said before, McDonalds had only came
to Vietnam since last month, therefore the prediction can only be manage from history
as the area of knowledge and perception as a way of knowing. Using the situation of Chinese's
McDonalds, how it has become the number one food brand of China, defeating other domestic
food stores, having to pay very little tax money upon the million dollars income gotten
from business in China. Indeed, China government and Chinese citizen didn't get much economic
benefits from the Giant Mac, and most likely, this shall soon happen to Vietnam, not only
because the two countries are neighbor but because McDonald knows exactly what to target
to satisfy Vietnamese since Chinese and Vietnamese share lots of common in cultures.
But then again, taken into account many foreign brands had enter Vietnam years ago, such as
KFC, Domino's Pizza, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, etc...the "fault" of imperialism is
not solely on McDonalds, as Starbuck was also one of the causes towards the downturn of
Vietnamese's coffees brand. Others foreign companies also had influences on the gradually
absorption of Westerner's lifestyles. In fact, McDonalds it self is also being tied down
and changes to adapt to the purely different style of govern of Vietnamese people. Furthermore,
as stated before, the tax rate of foreign cooperation is much higher than any other
developed countries, 41 % of their profits is go to the share between Nguyen Bao Hoang's
company and the big Mac. Summing up the evidences presented, base on
history as a way of knowing , and with intuition and reason from area of knowledge, first of
all, it is undeniable how McDonald and other foreign food brands could easily overpower
the fast food industry of Vietnam from learnt experiences of other countries, and therefore,
with the the idealistic fancies of living the western life, Vietnamese traditional culture
and governing system could easily slide down the slope of downfall, and that is how imperialism
affect local's ideologies. For how imperialism is subjected to local's
ideologies, McDonald had to rely on the government's favor to enter Vietnam. This shows how imperialism
of capitalist countries fail due to the fact that if the government is to be influenced
by capitalist ideology, McDonald had had little troubles entering the market of Vietnam, and
that it would not have to rely on the favor of the government. If local ideologies were
to be influenced by capitalist imperialism, McDonald would have been subjected to lower
tax, as it is in capitalist economies. Therefore, in this case, what Vietnam is facing is deed
the mid of the spectrum, as we also have an idiom that teaches, everything and anything
happens like a double edges sources, there will always be pros and cons that lies somewhere
among the spectrum.