Executive Summary : Mcdonald 's Australia

It is known that most products go through a ‘product life cycle’, which sees all kinds of product will eventually go to the ‘decline’ stage. The marketing research discussed in the pervious part is vitally important to understand the changing wants and needs of customers. McDonald's constantly works to satisfy customers by developing new products to appeal them. For example, McDonald's introduced a variety of salads to appeal to the healthier conscious customers (Yahoo! Contributor Network, 2005), and recently, McDonald’s added a new product line named ‘great taste of America’ so as to attract young customers. (UK McDonald’s, 2012)

Since Richard and Maurice McDonald founded in 1948, McDonald's has grown from a small restaurant in California into one of the most recognized brands in the world with a chain of outlets that spans the globe. For over 50 years, McDonald's defined the fast food industry while indelibly etching its golden arches logo on the face of both American and global culture through such icons as character Ronald McDonald and the Big Mac sandwich. Millions of people started their very first jobs at McDonalds while even more began to have their eating habits redefined by the chain. Concepts like the drive-thru window were introduced along with the Happy Meal for children in order to provide a fast, affordable, and enjoyable dining. Ray Kroc, saleman

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

In the past, many students have selected popular products that McDonald’s does not offer, but other restaurants successfully provide. This is an opportunity to use your creativity, so think critically on what products may positively impact the McDonald’s menu of products to increase revenues and profitability. The secondary research used in this assignment should support your new product idea. Remember you are in the process of finding data that will convince a hardened senior executive that your addition to the menu will be good for McDonald’s and their bottom line.

McDonald’s emphasizes cleanliness and food safety, in addition to quality and value service (QSC&V), through which it has succeeded in obtaining customer trust. The company also stresses ethical practices, dependability, and truthfulness in dealing with customers (McDonald’s, 2012, p. 1). Moreover, McDonald’s employs a coordinated marketing strategy that involves analyzing customer wants, creating products to satisfy his or her needs, setting the right prices and enhancing awareness of

The McDonalds Corporation has to be continually aware of its consumer behavior, their eating habits, as well as the situation and the trends in the market in order to understand if there is a need of any changes in their marketing strategy. Any important modifications in the marketing activities of the company have to be backed up by legitimate research. The introduction of new products, decisions on whether to invest more in certain channels of distribution, change of features of the product, advertising or pricing strategies have to be backed up by evidence based on the results of continuous marketing research. In the case of a big corporation like McDonald’s, the marketing research reports should answer lots of consumer

Operation and Supply chain management (OSCM) is one of the foundations that successful businesses count on to provide a competitive advantage within their industry. The goal of OSCM is to develop and maintain a system that effectively and efficiently manages the flow of raw material resources into useful end products for consumer use (Chase, 2006). In the fast food industry this process takes center stage in maintaining competitive pricing. A review of the production process in two national chains, Whataburger and McDonald’s, showcases each chain’s approaches to OSCM.

Operation processes involves inputs which act as the core of businesses providing greater utility to customers through the addition of value. Businesses use a combination of transformed resources such as materials, customers and information. Materials are the basic elements used in the production process and are sourced from the supply chain which are divided into raw and intermediate materials. In Australia, McDonalds uses locally sourced materials such as beef from Australian farmers to produce over 400 million hamburgers. Large businesses such as McDonald’s requires efficiency in production, hence, a specialist material manager is recruited to control the flow of resources from the initial purchasing stage to final distribution. Customers become transformed resources when their desires and preferences shape inputs

McDonald's is the world’s leading food service retailer with more than 30,000 local restaurants in 121 countries serving 45 million customers each day.

McDonald’s development from its first drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, to the famous fast

The organisation I have chosen to examine from an operations management and decision making standpoint is McDonald’s, a worldwide chain of fast food restaurants, which are run either by a franchise, an affiliate or by the corporation itself. There are over 31,000 branches of McDonald’s worldwide1. It is estimated these restaurants serve a collective 47 million customers daily2. The restaurants mainly sell customers traditional fast food fare such as burgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, fizzy drinks and milkshakes, in addition to breakfast, dessert items and (in response to growing health concerns in the consumer marketplace) healthier items such as salads and

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

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.