Glocalization of Subway in India: How a US Giant Has Adapted in the Asian Subcontinent

Abstract

This paper examines how Subway, the US fast food restaurant franchise, has adapted to Indian culture. Glocalization theory will be the guiding framework used in this analysis. Glocalization rests on the premise that a universal concept must change to fit and function in a local culture. Blending the local and the global, it provides a passage to empowerment where modifications to a particular commodity can make it prosper in various traditions. Four important themes of glocalization emerged from this analysis: (1) adjustment of restaurant ambience; (2) adoption of Jain values; (3) adjustment of advertising practices; and (4) adjustment of the use of social media. An important conclusion is that, although India is embracing modernity, Subway has honoured many religious and cultural views in that nation.

Food choices and Social distinctions among University Students in Hyderabad

“…Names like Brahmana Bhojanashala or Arya Vaishya Bhojanashala use such tags to indicate their status as pure vegetarian eating establishments, staffed by appropriate people in terms of purity and social ranking. On the other side of the spectrum, the introduction of global food outlets in India by companies such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza is analysed by Simi and Matusitz (2015). They show how such companies evolved glocalised strategies to make inroads into South Asian markets and observe how Subway, a popular US fast-food chain, found itself forced to adapt to dominant local cultural practices in India.…”

Redefining gender stereotypes in Indian English TV advertising

“…The discussion section revisits the objectives of the study and provides a critical commentary on the issues of glocalization, gender representation and language choice in relation to the analysis of Indian TV commercials. In the context of this study, glocalization is not narrowly defined as the strategies used by international (global) companies to advertise their products/services in local markets (Kobayashi, ; Simi & Matusitz, ) but to define the process by which TV commercials reframe a cultural third space to produce new discursive forms and identities irrespective of the company's or product's country of origin. Therefore, glocalization in the present study refers more generally to how modern‐day commercials in India reframe the western concept of gender equality to fit into the local Indian culture as a promotional strategy.…”

“…In the context of the present study, glocalization is viewed as an amalgam of homogeneity and heterogeneity by focusing on how the global and local are articulated (Giulianotti & Robertson, ) rather than as a heterogenization or polarization of cultures (Ritzer, ). An example of this approach is Simi and Matusitz's () article on glocalization of Subway that demonstrates how an American fast food franchise adapts to Indian culture by blending the local and the global in the restaurant's ambience, menu, advertising and social media messages.…”

Toward a Hermeneutic Model of Cultural Globalization: Four Lessons from Translation Studies

“…Research on global diffusion points to different ways cultural brokers try to align a global object with local cultural frameworks, trying to match the object with the local group’s understanding of itself. The U.S. fast food franchise Subway, for example, works to make its restaurants in India more “Indian” by tailoring their ambience, advertising, and social media to appeal to local values (Simi and Matusitz 2017). But translation theory pushes us to also consider how local groups imagine the foreign Other (Lefevere 1998:13).…”