Competitive Strategy Of Mcdonalds

McDonalds functional strategies focus on the product and support process strategies more so than people. McDonalds is always attempting to be innovative and develop new exciting products, as well as, more efficient and effective processes to make its product. McDonalds also is one of the most intense marketers among its competitors. These two factors can help to show how McDonalds focuses on its product strategies over other functional strategies. McDonalds employees strive to meet time and production quotas based on historical data as well as current data that is captured on information systems throughout the restaurant.

McDonalds is one of the biggest fast food companies in the market share today. It has been running in over 119 countries, as well as they have acquired over 31,000 restaurants in the world now. McDonald’s brand mission is to be customers’ favourite place and way to eat, they are aligned around a global strategy called the ‘Plan to Win’, they also committed to continuously improving their operations and enhancing their customers’ experience. As we all know that McDonald’s had successfully achieved their goal through out the years. (aboutmcdonald’s, 2012) Apart from this, as McDonald’s is a worldwide company, they also had the social responsibility to return the community; therefore, the ‘Ronald McDonald House Charities’ was

McDonalds was first incorporated in the year 1955 in USA with a single restaurant. Currently, McDonald has transformed to be the biggest and the fastest growing in the industry of fast food services (Employee handbook, 18). The corporation sales are now at a staggering $30 billion an year contributed by the 21,000 stores that are located across 101 different nations around the world. The success of the corporation has been as a result of a great contribution by the company’s management where there has been application of new ideas to give the corporation an upper edge in the market. On analysis of the company’s blueprints, a projection has been made where the corporation

McDonald’s has been in business since 1955. Through many years of great strategic and financial planning, it has become one of the most successful food chains in the world. In order to continue its great success, McDonald’s must continue to adapt to change. In this paper we will discuss the strategic and financial planning that would be necessary to keep McDonald’s on top of the food chain.

Answer: McDonald’s business strategy is a specialization strategy. The organization is built on a foundation that gives it a competitive advantage and a business strategy that is consistent, flexible, and specialized. McDonald’s niche market is people. According to the case study, people are the company’s most important asset and its success depends on the satisfaction of its customers which begins with workers who have the attitudes and abilities required to work

The organization and characteristics of a specific market where a company operates is referred to as market structure. While markets can basically be classified by their degree of competitiveness and pricing, there are four types of markets i.e. perfect competition, monopolistic competition, monopoly, and oligopoly. In perfect competition markets, many firms are price takers whereas monopolistic competition markets are characterized by the ability of some firms to have market power. In contrast, oligopoly markets are those in which few firms can be price makers while monopoly market is where one firm can be a price maker.

McDonald’s has been in business since 1955. It has positioned itself in the market as a low-priced, fast food restaurant focusing on hamburgers and other convenience foods. The company is currently faced with competition from Chipotle, a restaurant which offers fast and healthy Mexican food in the fast-casual dining segment. Both restaurants are competing for customer dollars and while they both offer fast convenience there are differences in their food offerings. McDonald’s has always offered a fast, basic meal at a low price. In comparison, Chipotle offers fresh, quality Mexican food fast at a low price. Analyst have suggested that Chipotle would bring an end to the fast food burger chains that have long dominated the industry. McDonald’s must determine if Chipotle is a competitive threat and if so how to address the threat in the market.

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

External Factors: McDonald’s has to continuous make strategic changes in accordance to environment and external factors affecting the industry. Such factors are explained below in details.

While McDonald’s and Burger King have fought over a percentage of the same market share, each company has a unique strategy with which they’ve approached the market. McDonald’s aims to deliver an inexpensive, standard, quality meal with high level of uniformity both in burger structure and in delivery times. Burger King also strives for an inexpensive, quality meal, but focuses on allowing the customer a degree of flexibility in the menu – a goal reflected in their long-time slogan, “Have it your way.” This difference results in distinct objectives for each restaurant that resonate

McDonald’s is facing numerous problems such as, increase of major competitors in hamburger and non-hamburger segment, increase of substitutes, and change in eating habitats. The fast-food industry is a mature market making it necessary for companies like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s to find new marketing strategies to stay competitive and maintain market share. Fast- food chains have multiple competitors, which have many similarities and differences causing bargaining power of buyers to be very high. This makes it crucial for McDonald’s to acquire resources and develop capabilities in order to develop a competitive advantage. In addition, they need to make trade-offs on what strategies they see more effective to help keep this competitive advantage and long-term profits.

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

Since McDonald’s is the most well know fast food chain in the world with a market cap of 69.35 billion, brand recognition is their biggest strength. The secret of McDonald’s success is its willingness to innovate and maintain consistency in the operation of its many outlets. In recent years McDonald’s has introduced Premium Salads, Snack Wraps, fresh Apple Dippers in the United States, and Corn Cups in China. Also, McDonald 's products are priced so low that economic conditions are almost insignificant.

The main problem from McDonald's case, McDonald's Polishing the Golden Arches, is how to classify McDonald's strategy through Plan to Win into one of the five generic competitive strategies. Before we solve this main problem, we should determine the chief economic and business characteristics, the five forces analysis, and also the driving forces of the fast-food industry. After that we identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats by using SWOT analysis. Finally, we classify McDonald's strategy into one of the five generic competitive strategies.

"i 'm lovin ' it is a key part of McDonald 's business strategy to connect with customers in highly relevant, culturally significant ways around the world."