McDonald's is A Competitive Fast Food Firm Essays

The increasing free time, or leisure time of customers will lead to a greater use of fast foods, people will spend more “quality time”, enjoy a diner outside, etc.

On McDonalds For my business course, I have been asked to prepare a report for a business at work. I could choose any business to investigate. I decided to do McDonalds because it is globally recognised and of its size. Also because it is a franchise I thought that it would be interesting to see how a franchise operated.

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.

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

Exceeding in the field of delivering food quickly is a must for a fast food restaurant and Chick-fil-A always excels. Waiting long for a meal is no such thing at an eatery like this one. Food is always brought to your table speedily or handed to you less than a minute after you place an order. Although the long line may fool you, there is hardly ever an extensive wait. The efficiency the employees demonstrate is an example to all fast food restaurants all over the world—they should take note.

With the fast pace of Americans, they do not have to travel far to find a fast food restaurants. While families are working double shift jobs and less time to cook and take care of other family duties. The speed of fast food can provide convenience in

McDonald's franchise operates in oligopoly market since the fast food industry is one of the major industries with this type of markets. Some of the common features of oligopolistic markets are price rigidity and price war that have significant impacts on the firm's pricing strategies. The reason for the operation of this franchise in oligopolistic markets is that fast food industry is characterized by a small number of large producers or sellers. As a result, every large seller in the industry has a perceptible impact on other sellers as they influence the market.

KFCOne of the major competitors for McDonald in the burger segment is KFC. It first came to India in 1995, where it was one of the first multinational food chains to have entered India. It proved not to be a very good time to have come to India where people were still not able to come to terms with multinationals coming to India, and it was targeted by many and remained a not so known food outlet, while the ones which came later became more popular. KFC India had to shut shop in the late 1990s after it faced heavy protests not only from anti-multinational groups but also animal rights' protector, PETA.

The average turn from the time customers receive their food to the time they exit the restaurant, is 32 minutes. Additionally, it appears that even the experienced staff has difficulties in serving the customers as the demand exceeds labor utilized creating queues on the weekends of up to 25 minutes.

McDonald's has had a global impact on the food industry. McDonald's developed a revolutionary idea known today as fast-food. This impact began in 1930 when Maurice and Richard McDonald left New Hampshire seeking to make a fortune in Hollywood, started up a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino. Unlike so many other food-service operations at the time, McDonald's came up with new ideas that turned the usual slow paced dinner into a finely tuned engine.

Much like a smile, the “Golden Arches” can be understood in any language. The McDonalds brand is the most well-known, internationally embraced fast food empire. McDonalds operates over 31,000 franchises throughout the world, with the United States leading the way with a whopping 13,381outlets as of May 2009 [1]. McDonalds has the fast food market cornered, offering an increasing variety of food of beverages, marketed to people of all ages to eat at any time of the day. However, being a corporate giant has its issues. McDonalds has faced a lot of criticism for its high-fat, high-sugar, potentially addictive menu. While the corporation is not likely to outright admit responsible for its actions, McDonalds has seen some changes to address

Not having to answer to a corporate boss is the dream of many and the flexibility that owning a business franchise creates provides this option. Success is not reached by simply creating a business, however. The level of success is measured by the size and efficiency of the business. Business growth is the driving force of the economy. The additional jobs and revenues created when a business expands allow the economy to grow at exponential rates. One of the fastest and most popular ways to increase the size of a business is to turn it into a franchise, which can then be purchased by individuals. Franchising provides opportunities that are beneficial to both the parent company and the purchaser. The company that owns the business can expand

The second force that acts on the industry is the threat of new entrants. Fortunately for McDonald’s and it’s over 30,000 restaurants world-wide, the corporation has set itself in a position of dominance. Using a growth strategy, “McDonald’s is continuously expanding its reach which makes it increasingly difficult for new fast food restaurants to enter the industry, through franchising, McDonald’s is able to reach nearly every corner of the globe” (Shell, Ellen Ruppel).

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

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.