Case Study : Mcdonald 's Corporation

About everyone at some age, at some point or another, and in some country has gotten a sample of American's symbol for fast food through the golden arches of McDonald's. This report will attempt to analyze the external and internal sectors that affect the company's success. The external analysis will provide opportunities and threats while the internal analysis will show indicators of strength and weakness. It will then follow up with critical issues, strategic alternatives, recommendations and implementation. The case studied is found in Appendix 2 of Mary Coulter's "Strategic Management in Action" book.

Questions 1: How would you describe McDonald 's business strategy? What are the foundations of its competitive advantage?

REFERENCES•www.mcdonalds.com, accessed on 18 July, 2008•www.mcdonldsindia.net, accessed on 18 July, 2008•en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's, accessed on 19 July, 2008•http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/263943/mcdonalds_strategic_marketing_mix.html?cat=4, accessed on 19 July, 2008•www.kfc.com, accessed on 25 August, 2008

Kroc's idea of the way to develop McDonald's into a profit was to sell an operating service to partners. This revolutionary way of doing things, instead of just supplying franchisees with milk-shake formula and ice cream, is what led to

McDonald’s has combined Taylor’s, Weber’s, and Fayol’s theories picking out some of the components that best fit their mission. These components include Taylor’s supervision practices, emphasis on efficient specific tasks, and employee placement practices, which represent the mechanistic organization theory. Weber’s hierarchical authority structure, merit based promotion principles, and impersonal management practices. In addition to, Fayol’s bureaucratic management style that stresses planning, organizing and coordinating. Common principles among these three theories like the shared belief in the division of labor, order, and extensive policies are part of McDonald’s management style. In essence, McDonald’s has gathered the components it believed would allow them to accomplish

It is no accident that McDonald’s has been around since 1954. Everything decision that is made is deliberate and thoughtful. With that being said, not all decisions have turned out the way McDonalds’s had hoped. That is why it is important for them to have a competitive strategy to guide their decision-making process. Not all businesses use the same competitive strategies, however, the goal is all the same: to gain a competitive advantage and increase profits.

In 1954 Ray Kroc became the first franchisee appointed by Mac and Dick McDonald in San

Over the last four years, I’ve delt a great deal with RFID supply chains, and have seen first hand the positive advancements that are made with them. If given the opportunity to lead this project with your company, I believe I can close the gap between Intel and it’s competitors.

McDonald has been a well-known and valuable brand for over half a century. The company’s mission and vision is striving to be the world’s best quick service restaurant and formalizing their beliefs into “People, Vision, and People Promise”. “Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value” also became the company’s motto. The company’s first McDonald store was built “in 1940 by the original McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac. Later in 1954, Ray Kroc became the first official franchisee appointed by Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California” (Chandiramani, Ravi). Soon after, Mr. Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, and the McDonald’s corporation was created. The new franchise began to grow rapidly as a result of its

General administration:  Top-down decision-making, lack ofinvolvement in changes caused franchisee complaints, especially when profits wentdown. Franchise training program will help.

The company researched for the purpose of this paper is McDonald 's. This company 's history dates back since 1940 when Mac and Dick McDonald initially opened McDonald 's BBQ restaurant located in San Bernardino, CA. In 1948 they shut down the restaurant, just to reopen it as a self-service drive-in restaurant. According to About McDonald’s (2012), their menu included only 9 items, such as: milk, coffee, soft drinks, cheeseburger, hamburger, potato chips, and a slice of pie. Potato chips were then replaced by French fries. The history of this company is significantly market by Ray Kroc, who in 1954 at a visit to McDonald 's in San Bernardino decides to have a franchise of McDonald 's. A year later, in 1955, he opens his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. The franchising plan allowed growth and by 1965 there were more than 700 restaurants across United States. McDonald 's

Throughout its restaurants across the globe, McDonald's Corporation consists of various operations that are associated with the overall strategy of the company. Some of

McDonalds began in 1937 as a single drive- in hamburger stand in Pasadena, California and has since then developed into the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. They have become a model or even, a standard for other businesses and corporations not limited to fast food. They have a unique business model that sets them apart from the rest which they call the “three-legged stool”. This “stool” is composed of the franchises, Employees, and suppliers which all work together to help the company remain strong and sturdy. Their most recent revamping of the company occurred in the spring of 2003 which they named, the Plan to Win. This operating plan focuses around improving the “five P’s”- People, Products, Place, Price and

From its recognizable golden arched “M” to its top brand ambassador, Ronald McDonald, McDonald’s has systematically made its mark on history. McDonald’ has proven to have one of the most successful strategic management firms in its industry. One of the best strategic moves was taking on Ray Kroc as founder and former CEO. Kroc lived by his philosophy "None of us is as good as all of us." Another key strategy McDonald 's practiced was the utilization of Six Sigma metrics. Ray Kroc built a successful business by knowing how the importance of cost, cycle time, and customer service. Due to human error, it is difficult to get every single customer order correct. Six sigma aims to reduce and hopefully eliminate this customer dissatisfaction by giving the customer the power to place their own orders, in return having the fewer unsatisfied customer. With respect to the utilizing six sigma metrics, McDonald’s also followed a framework of five core rules. Per the article McDonald’s Suppliers are vested for Success, these five rules included: "1. Focus on outcomes, not transactions 2. Focus on the what, not the how 3. Agree on clearly defined and measurable outcomes 4. Pricing Model/Incentives for Cost/Service trade-offs 5. Governance with Insight, not Merely Oversight” (Vitasek). These rules were set in place as tools to help build relationships between the three

• What measures could Burger King do to dethrone McDonald’s as well as hold off the challenge of a number of other chains that were growing in size and competitive power?