Category: McDonald’s

How would you like it if you had to eat McDonald’s meals for 30 days and for three times a day? That is what Morgan Spurlock experienced in ‘Super Size Me’ as an experiment into the dangerous obesity epidemic. As Steven Spielberg once said, “documentaries are the greatest way to educate an entire generation”, and Spurlock has created a masterpiece. In this paper, I’ll be reviewing this socially critical 2004 documentary.

‘Super Size Me’ is based around the documentation of Spurlock eating McDonald’s for 30 days. It also documents the radical effects this routine has on Spurlock’s physical and psychological health, and discovers McDonald’s corporate influence, which feeds of profit and doesn’t take into account the wellbeing of the population who consumes their food.

The movie is good at explaining the side of the story that hadn’t been told before and to make the audience accept Spurlock’s bias views as one side of the situation has no voice. The structure based around ‘Super Size Me’ was based the obesity epidemic. The movie follows a certain sequence, displaying to the audience of Spurlock McDonald’s fast food. This is followed by Spurlock showing the side effects of the food and this is followed by visits to the doctors who keep on saying McDonald’s is bad for you. It then proceeds on showing images of the public who’ve been affected by the obesity epidemic.

Spurlock’s purpose in this documentary was to inform and position the audience to accept his views on America’s obesity epidemic. The term ‘obesity’ is put in the foreground of the documentary because two girls had put forward a law-suit towards McDonald’s and they said if they could go for 30 days on a McDonald’s diet for three times a day than they would be illegible to make a claim. This is why Spurlock created this documentary, to showcase the dangerous effects of McDonald’s foods on the human body.

The techniques viewed in the movie were intelligently and consistently displayed throughout the movie. Spurlock effectively positions the audience to reconsider eating McDonald’s through these film techniques. When Spurlock interviews the CEO of McDonald’s Australia, Guy Russo, the usage of higher camera angles and editing positioned the audience to disagree and view what Guy Russo said negatively which in turn leads to the audience viewing poorly of McDonald’s even though they were not completely silenced. The use of eye level camera angles positions the audience to feel equal with the specialists as they present their opinions and to immediately believe and accept what the specialists are saying due to the camera angles and their superior level of education within the medical field which once again positions the audience to accept their attitudes. The film’s footage has also been deliberately used to further position the audience to accept Spurlock’s views on America’s fast food industries and how their corporate profit is weighted over the health of their consumers. Footage of the many advertisements and meals which are specifically positioned at kids were intentionally shown to position us to believe McDonald’s is using these things to appeal to and lure the kids in. This then results in the audience to reflect poorly of McDonald’s and their constant need of profits which are put over the wellbeing of their customers. Frequent shots of Spurlock without a shirt have intentionally been included to show the weight he may or may not have gained as a result of his high fat intake diet. However as there are videos edited into it of people eating food and fat people walking the streets its used to send a message that you’re not in control of your body as much as you think. Also, there are cartoon animations which are used to show the viewers what they are really buying. Throughout the documentary songs related to ‘supersize me’, ‘fat’ and ‘McDonald’s’ are played so it keeps to the themes that the documentary is based on. Then there are diegetic sounds such as the unwrapping of food which makes it more realistic to the viewer. Morgan Spurlock is the authority in this documentary, he acts as the ‘voice of God’ in the form of voice overs, in order to interpret the material, we are watching. We are expected to trust the narration, it also acts as an anchor for the visual material. ‘Super Size Me’ hosts numerous examples of archive material mainly included to set the scene, illustrate the narrator’s voice, or avoid too many jumpstarts throughout. Archival footage acts as a visual aid in order for the audience to remain interested and occupied in what they’re watching. The archive material is sometimes rather inspiring as at one point, the documentary shows a clip from Jared Fogle’s speech where he is trying the inspire Americans into healthier living. Another piece of inspirational archive material is the clip of a man holding his old pair of pants after losing a large mass of weight. These display how there are ways to avoid unhealthy lifestyles and the audience should pursue this way of living rather than consuming a diet of junk.

Spurlock states that everything is bigger in America. This creates the thought that obesity is a big problem within American society. It is responsible for 300,000 deaths per annum and most believe McDonald’s is responsible for the epidemic. Spurlock shares his point of view by explaining to the audience that he never ate fast food. He says that families are carelessly eating too much junk food and paying with their ‘wallets and their waistlines’. This absence of impartiality affected the viewer’s insight of McDonald’s and how they are considering a substitute when determining whether to eat at McDonald’s or other fast food restaurants. The shock feature is employed by the director to manipulate the viewer’s emotions and to position them to accept that McDonald’s is bad for you. For example, he talks about his liposuction operation, his own sick experience throughout the second day of McDonald’s meals, the frequent amount of pictures of overweight Americans, and school children eating this harmful food. He also displays a tombstone of Ronald McDonald and sarcastically asks his audience: “Who do you want to see go first, you or them?”. In addition to the use of shock feature, the film-maker also uses comparative features. For instance, he contrasts American schools with fast food meals and soda machines to a school for troubled teenagers in Wisconsin where fast food was substituted for natural food. As Spurlock demonstrates, this food change has positively influenced children’s emotional well-being and behavior. By using both shock features and comparative techniques, Spurlock makes an attempt to engage the public into a dialogue on the issue of fast food eating. The use of irony during this documentary has been used because if the audience finds something humorous and therefore having a positive reaction, they are more likely to accept what is being represented. The use of irony was used throughout the documentary in such scenes as when Spurlock was referring to his headaches, stomach aches and general sick feeling from the food as McHeadaches and a McTummy. The audience is positioned to feel sick after watching Spurlock generally feeling sick after eating McDonald’s.

There are other film techniques used in the film:

• Statistics tell the audience that two thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese and almost 40% of teenagers have too much fat in their bodies. This is according to the 2013 census.
• Interviews are sped up by jump cuts which maintain the film’s pace.
• There is a funny sequence of chicken nuggets in cartoons.
• Frequent shots of big bodies and McDonald’s workers strengthen the memo that obesity is at widespread rates in the US.

Even if McDonald’s food is cheap and delicious, the extreme ingestion of this sustenance (as Spurlock has clearly explained in his movie) is toxic to the human body of an adult or child. In conclusion, I rated this movie, 3 out of 5 stars as it was fun to view but at times I felt like the whole ‘experiment’ was a bit excessive as Spurlock has come from a family that didn’t eat fast food and later on, he became a vegan. This means he would have a negative connotation with eating fast food which is skewing with the audience’s views.

Minimum wage laws have been a topic of social, economic, and political debate for decades. As most things, there is generally never an answer that seems to make everyone happy, and this topic usually sparks mass debate. This is at both a state and federal level, as a fair percentage of states have a higher minimum wage than federally required. This essay will outline the disadvantages of raising minimum wage, as well as disadvantages of minimum wage laws as a whole.

Wages are a sensitive topic regardless of income bracket, but more importantly towards the bottom end. Whenever the topic comes up, I always think of a fox 2 reporter who went to a minimum wage rally in 2015. He asked many of those in attendance: “Paramedics don’t even make $15 dollars an hour and they save lives, why should you?” (Roop Raj, 2015, Nov 15). Their answers were mostly subpar. Minimum skill jobs, such as a drive-through cashier, are not meant to be family-supporting careers. And being that, the corresponding pay should not necessarily be a career level wage.

This argument, which is extremely prevalent in the fast-food industry, has already been met with action from companies like McDonalds. McDonalds has implemented self-order kiosks be present in restaurants nationwide by 2020. This means computers taking the jobs of people to combat rising labor costs and reducing the number of employees needed. Ultimately, some people are getting paid more, however some will be unemployed, replaced by a LED screen that can do their job. These people would likely still be employed, if they were paid a lower rate. Some don’t understand that they are protesting for their own unemployment.

With the rising of minimum wages, companies generally have to make a simple choice: choose not to hire in light of an artificially high wage. Those who would truly be at a disadvantage would be those entering the workplace with little to no skill. They may be overlooked, as a company would not be willing to pay them as they learn and become acquainted to the work force. This also reduces the ability of people being able to work up the ranks within an organization, like the ex-CEO of McDonalds, who started as a grill cook. Artificially high wages essentially created an even larger barrier to entering the workforce.

Minimum wage laws affect corporations from the ground up. There is no easy way for a company to react to the laws. They can reduce employment, which is bad for all employees, and can be an inconvenience for customers. If the company chooses to keep all employees and increase their pay, their net income is reduced. Reduced profits are far from ideal for stockholders and higher-ups within a business which can lead to reduced stock prices and negatively adjusted pay scales for higher level jobs. This can go as far as to affect a whole community. If minimum wage laws are so high, they push a company elsewhere, the community as a whole suffers from loss of income, jobs, draw, and less money flowing in the localized economy.

Another argument against minimum wage is that it contributes to inflation. If wages are boosted, and the economy is flooded with more spending money, prices go up. To adjust for the new found flow of money everything increases, everything from the dollar menu to prices of new cars. The effects of artificially inflating wages, would come full circle, and essentially correct any benefits the higher minimum wage may have. Their living expense would increase as the wages increased, so all that would be accomplished would be raising inflation, and cost of living.

Additional effects of these raised wages would be adverse effects on America’s body of small business. With the total number of small businesses in the US declining, a raised minimum wage would be one of the final nails in the coffin. Many companies simply cannot afford to pay their employees an extremely high rate for an entry level job. With gross income of these business being so small, there isn’t that much money to be playing with when it comes to entire salaries.

This obscure idea that every wage is intended to support a household is, frankly, illogical. Minimum skill jobs with minimum skill pay are not meant to build entire adult lives on, and they shouldn’t. You can earn more money by acquiring skills in that workforce and becoming a more valuable employee. The idea of pay capable of supporting one’s entire life, with a job a high schooler or a computer could do, seems entirely arbitrary. You get paid for the level of craft. Not to mention that there’s people who would benefit from being able to sell their time/services for less than minimum wage.

Although there are both benefits and negatives from minimum wage laws, the negatives outweigh the advantages. They could potentially affect every single level within a company, as well as the community around it. In very practical terms, labor is the means of survival. Labor is worth the quality, effort and skill, and minimum wage laws skew that idea.

Have you ever experienced that could not remind the name when someone asks you what name this song is? You know what this is, but you just remember their visual, you can’t remind their name. Another example is that you met a person whom you don’t know and introduced to each other. One day you met him again. You remember that he is that you have met before, but you can’t remind what his name is. I have done that. And I think you also have that too. According to the article by Quartet Communications, people get much more information from their visual senses in five senses. It literally means that we are better at remembering a picture than a name. Nowadays, every company has its own logo because they know the above fact. Interestingly, their logos are so tricky, sometimes they are funny, cute, and little a bit weird. Surely, their logos are devised to make them easier for people to remember. So, I picked up two companies and their logos – McDonald’s and 7-Eleven – and searched about why they used them by their history.

First of all, about McDonald’s. The logo is just ‘M’. What is that? What kind of means does that have? Who can notice ‘M’ sells hamburgers? However, everyone knows what kind of shops that is by just looking. McDonald’s was started in the 1940s in the United States. It became famous for its speed service system, factory-style hamburger manufacturing method, and self-service mechanism. And now is also McDonald’s is loved in the world. But the logo was different now. At first, McDonald’s had an imaginary character named Speedee, the meaning must be that I can serve a hamburger quickly. Where was the M mark from? At McDonald’s, a different logo was used at that time, but since the building called the Golden Arch at the first Chicago store was symbolic, the shape of the arch was used as the logo. In other words, the McDonald’s logo was completed because the golden arch looks like ‘M’. And the simple and easy-to-understand logo made McDonald’s famous.

Next is 7-Eleven. This translates literally to 7 and 11, but what does that mean? A convenience store was a small ice retailer in the United States in 1927. At that time, electric refrigerators were not yet widespread in homes, so ice cubes for refrigerators were essential for daily life. As the times changed, they started selling not only ice but also daily foods, such as eggs and milk. The store that suits the customer’s needs was a convenience store. These retail stores were initially called ‘totem stores’, and the totem poles built in the store’s garden and the totem poles on the side of the store became the symbol of convenience stores. In 1946, the name of the store was changed to 7-Eleven as a chain that operates daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Therefore, this means that it is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

For these facts, each of their logos has its own meaning and history, however, these histories and the power of the logo are completely unrelated. So, what is the power of the logo? The logo has two powers: easy to settle and unlimited possibilities. For example, which is easier to see if there is only the name? Of the store on the map or only the logo? Of course, it would be the logo. In addition, the logo has another pro that logo can be anything because as you can see from the facts above, we can determine what store without knowing the meaning of the logo. These are the reason why companies use logos and make them tricky.

In summary, companies are using logos and human mechanisms for making customers remember what kind of companies they are. From this, I’ve been very scared because I thought that the world was doing a lot of things the opposite of human behavior and psychology.

McDonald’s Corporation is an America-based fast-food chain that was formed back in 1940 by Ray Kroc and now it’s a market leader. The business model is a fast-service restaurant with several franchises operating globally. They sell products such as cheeseburgers, Big-Mac, fish fillet burgers, wrap sandwiches, happy meals, salads, French fries, McNuggets, McFlurry, cold and hot beverages and many more. They also provide free Wi-Fi, play and party areas and delivery services. The company is well known for its drive-thru services as it is always busy all year round. According to Statista (2019), it has already achieved a market share of 17% in the U.S markets.

According to Statista (2019), it has employed about 210,000 individuals worldwide. The Company’s headquarters located in Chicago, and have opened up nearly 36,000 restaurants in 100 countries which are geographically dispersed across the globe. McDonald’s services include free Wi-Fi, play and party areas and delivery services. This report will assess how mission, visions, objectives and the core competencies that are formed at McDonald Plc with regards to the strategic planning and also, we are going to use effective tools that can be helpful in developing the strategy for McDonald’s in order to achieve competitive advantage in the business. According to an article GREGORY (2017), McDonald’s Corporation sets its corporate mission and vision statements in order to respond to changes in the global foodservice industry environment. Since it’s the biggest fast-food restaurant chain in the world, it considers its vision and mission statements as an essential policy and strategic management tool which ensures continuous growth. A Mission statement sets the purpose of the business. Whereas McDonald’s mission statement is establishment of the company as an influential favorite food service destination. A firm’s corporate vision statement is set to know where it wants to see itself in future. McDonald’s vision statement Is to push the company towards growth and improvement. It has major international competitors like Burger King, Subway, Starbucks, and Dunkin’ Donuts, and also regional or local firms. For McDonald’s its important to develop its competencies in order to manage competition and to achieve business goals.

Business strategy is understood as a long-term plan of action or sets of different decisions which is helpful for organisations to achieve their goals and objectives (Jargons, 2018). It’s a master plan that a company uses to set a competitive position in the market and also helps frame core competencies. It’s often made by considering the internal and external factors that ensures business runs smoothly and effectively. Therefore, it is important for McDonalds corporation to be rational by making strategic decisions and the decisions must always be taken based on the mission and vision of the business.

Strategic planning helps formulate a business strategy, implement and evaluate their impacts which are based on the organisation’s objectives. It focuses on integrating different business units to achieve organisational goals (Institute, 2019). It also helps evaluate the internal and external environment of the organisation.

Globalisation is a process where in two or more nations, or people, companies come together and trade their products or services internationally, through international trade, investment and through information technology. It has greater impact on organisations such as increased competition which is caused by foreign investment, there is greater awareness of the products as consumers will have wide variety to choose from. Opportunity to increase mergers and acquisitions is another impact on organisations. It also provides access to larger markets. Trading block is an agreement made between two or more countries that remove barriers to trade between those countries whilst keeping trade barriers for other nations (Agarwal, 2019). By reducing tariffs, companies can benefit from transferring off their goods from one part to another. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) encourages trade to happen between Canada, US and Mexico with less tariffs (Llanes, 2017). This reduces the cost to companies and improves relation between nations.

Strategic decision-making is a process which helps managers and other organisations to solve problems by looking at alternative choices and deciding the best route to adopt. There are 7 different steps to be followed efficiently to have positive impact on the organization’s short and long-term goals (Hussung, 2017).It is also concerned with resources like capital available to the business, business growth as well as the competitive advantage of the business.

Corporate level strategy is made by the top management of an organisation and it includes bigger decisions such as acquiring a new business, expansion, or even diversification.

Business level strategy is formed to gain competitive advantage and also to provide value to their customers by exploring its core competencies. Its also concerned with the organisation’s position in the market (Starr, 2018).

Functional level strategies should be linked with both corporate and business level strategies. They are concerned with decision making at operational level known as tactical decision that are made on day to day basis to help execute corporate and business level strategies (Jargons, 2019).

According to Henry Mintzberg, there are five approaches to strategy labelled as 5 p’s (Mulder, 2018):

1. Strategy is a plan that is made to deal with certain situations. A plan is always made before taking any action and it must be revised effectively.
2. Pattern is a way employees and teams behave in an organisation based upon a strategy. If in past, a choice made increased sales in future, then in that case, this past behaviour becomes a pattern and is involved in ongoing strategy development process.
3. Having a strategic position in the market will not only gain competitive advantage for the organisation but also help fight again competitors. It deals with internal and external context of the environment.
4. Business should also think from the customers perspectives that where will their products stand in their eyes. What will be the image of their company in front of investors and where do they want to see themselves. All these elements will help them gain useful information and can work on strategic choices which they make.
5. Ploy is also a strategic choice where in organisations come up with a very innovative and unique idea that nobody has ever seen coming. For example, McDonalds already offers free WIFI services to their customers, and one day they develop their ownWi-Fi systems by entering into a totally new market which is technology. This becomes challenging for their competitors to compete.

By understanding each element of the above mentioned, McDonalds Corporation can develop a comprehensive business strategy that will allow them to take advantage of their capabilities to the fullest.

For profit organisations, their strategic plan is formed in such a way that, it achieves their aim to gain enough revenue which can be returned to shareholders in form of dividends or return to owners in terms of profit. Whereas, for non-for-profit organisations, their strategic plan differs in a way that, they aim to improve cashflow to reinvest and continue to operate and serve more people than before (Russo, 2019).

Internal and external environmental factors that affect McDonalds Corporation are:

• Very strong brand image (political/legal);
• Market diversification (sociocultural);
• Standardised process (technological);
• Intense competition;
• Trends in healthy lifestyle.

In McDonalds all these factors are in favour and also allows them to create a more strategic plan for the future growth of the business and to maintain its brand image having a standardised process of making food It may face problems by government in having proper food labelling or its packaging process. These days, people are more diet conscious and they want to know how much calories are they consuming everyday therefore, McDonalds are asked by government to mention calories in every product. They can enhance their mobile applications and offer new deals with lesser price to order online and also, they can have a new system such as kiosk, which can allow consumer to customise their food and self-order. Fierce competition allows McDonald operations to be globalised in areas where there are less restaurants (Andino, 2015).

Introduction

This report will aim to use SWOT analysis to analyze if Mcdonald’s provides their customers will good quality service and if the business’s customers are satisfied with the business. Firstly, it will briefly explore the business’s history and the progress the business makes throughout the year. In addition, the report will also provide recommendations as to how Mcdonald’s should provide its customers with the best service thus, satisfying customer requirements.

Terms of reference

This report has been demanded by Janvier Nkurunziza, who is the communications lecturer at the City of Glasgow College. Where it will be submitted on the 23rd of October 2019.

Research Methods

To conduct this report, a variety of both Desk and Field research methods were conducted to obtain information. The report has gained information from a wide range of sources. Such as conducting surveys. Thus, also using websites as my main source of receiving information (see bibliography)

History of McDonald’s

This sector will talk about the history of Mcdonald’s.

It can be seen that this food industry was first established in San Bernardino, California. It was run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald In 1940 featuring a large menu and car hop service to customers.

In 1955, McDonald’s had seen to open their first ever franchise in Illinois where the business launched McDonald’s Corporation where Ray Croc had bought Mcdonald’s from the Donald brothers in 1961. (See Appendix 1) Therefore, the number of outlets had topped 1,000 before the decade’s end. Where a huge increase in growth was seen with the business as the company’s stock began trading publicly during the 60s.

In 1963, the known public face of Mcdonald’s, Ronald McDonald the Clown was introduced by the organization thus where the double arch logo had become Mcdonald’s known brand. Furthermore, Mcdonald’s was successful in expanding their business internationally. For example, in 1967 the organization was able to expand to Canada. Where overall reaching 10,000 restaurants.

Over the years, McDonald’s was able to widen their product portfolio thus widening their variation of products instead of hamburgers being their main one product. For example, the company’s now famous burger, the Big Mac was available in 1986. Along with other products such as the egg McMuffin (1973), Happy Meals (1979), and Chicken McNuggets in 1983. (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Nov 2017).

Finally, from the official McDonald’s website, I was able to gather the information that Mcdonald’s had published its ever-Social Responsibility report on 15/4/02.

This act therefore aided the business in many ways as it boosted the company’s reputation within the market thus building the business’s brand and attracting a wider proportion of loyal customers. (2017-2019 McDonald’s).

McDonald’s progression to success

This area will be gathering information from my sources about McDonald’s progress over the years by analyzing Mcdonald’s Sales, Products, and most importantly Customer Satisfaction and the service they provide to their customers daily.

Since the start of its official opening, Mcdonald’s had seen to have increased rapidly over the years. Today, Mcdonald’s has over 37,000 restaurants across the world (see Appendix 2). Furthermore, Mcdonald’s brand worth is estimated to be around $126 billion US dollars thus showing the succession and worth of the organisation. The business has seen to have an increase of restaurants since 2015 having 30,000 restaurants to now over 37,000 in 2018 showing its massive growth over the years. (Lock, Aug 2019)

In March 2017, Mcdonald’s introduced their Velocity Growth Plan to satisfy their customer’s needs. The plan aims to retain its customers by expanding its many areas of strength such as breakfast and family occasions. Furthermore, the plan consists to bring back customers who have left the business by improving the quality of their products such as their taste, enhancing convenience, and offering strong value.

This plan has already started to bring effect to the business. For example, McDonald’s introduced many technological strategies in 2018. Where the business had focused on its global mobile app. Furthering this, self-ordering Kiosks and digital menu boards were also introduced under the Velocity growth plan to provide self-easy access to its customers. McDelivery is highly seen to be one of the most successful growth plans Mcdonald’s has introduced in the past years. Where customers are able to download the Uber Eats App thus allowing consumers to have home deliveries. This, therefore, opens a huge way of receiving profit and customer satisfaction

Furthering this, I had chosen to conduct the use of a survey (see appendix 3) where 31 individuals have provided their opinion regarding their satisfaction towards Mcdonald’s. Due to this being up to date it and being primary information, it furthers the reliability of the information given. However, due it can contain biased information favoring Mcdonald’s thus not being a 100% accurate source.

The results from the survey stated that most customers had included about how unhealthy the products are which are provided by this organization. Furthering this 60% of people were not satisfied with the quality of products as burgers are mainly dry and are not up to standard and are mostly rushed in making. This shows that Mcdonald’s is not really growing in the sense of providing good customer satisfaction to its consumers.

Company Structure

From my research, I was able to see that Mcdonald’s recently reformed their organizational structure in 2015. This would, therefore, lead to an improvement in the organization’s grasp and control of its worldwide franchises and businesses.

Furthering this, the business is seen to adapt to a divisional organizational structure therefore meaning that the business is divided into different components in which certain responsibilities are delegated to different modules thus based on their operational requirements. When relating it back to Mcdonald’s it has three different components. These are:

1. Global Hierarchy. Mcdonald’s has seen to adapt to a global hierarchy to expand to ensure all its operations are covered throughout the world. This, therefore, ensures that corporate control is structured and driven in the right direction and managed properly.
2. Performance-based groups. This type of division has seen to be reorganized since 2015 where the business has divided up sections geographically worldwide. Where (a) U.S., (b) international Lead Markets, (c) High Growth Markets, and (d) Foundational Markets and Corporate. Where the business is able to take control and lead their businesses throughout these certain divisions bringing a more effective and structured output and performance.
3. Function Based groups. Mcdonald’s is seen to have a group of people for human resource management, and also a Supply Chain and a Sustainability group to focus on chain management and their sustainability. Thus allowing the business to control and focus on the basic functions within the company. In addition, in this type of structure groups can be added and changed as the business expands its markets. (Andrew Thompson (February 26, 2019).

From the research that I have gathered, it can be seen that an advantage of McDonald’s hierarchy structure is that it provides support to monitor and control its global divisions and components.

Also for its performance-based divisions the business is able to enable different strategies based on its market performance allowing for effective approaches to market changes,

However, even with such structure and efficiency, the issue is seen to limit the business’s flexibility. (Andrew Thompson (February 26, 2019).

Conclusion and Recommendations.

From my analysis, I can conclude that Mcdonald’s has been improving their customer base by providing good customer satisfaction to their consumers. For example, since its introduction to its velocity plan, customers have been more satisfied with the businesses services thus allowing for more customer loyalty. McDelivery has had a huge impact on the business’s performance by attracting a wider consumer base as they have taken the opportunity of targeting those who prefer home deliveries thus providing the business with huge income.

Furthering this from my survey, it can be seen that many customers are happy with the wide product portfolio the business has to offer to its customers. However, I was also able to find from my survey that Mcdonald’s does not offer Halal meat which could be a huge opportunity McDonald has a hold of. For example, the company can target the Muslim and Jewish segment in the market allowing for more customers to buy the businesses products allowing for more revenue to be made as many consumers are more likely to buy from other food industries which are McDonalds biggest rivals such as, KFC and Nando’s.

Overall, I further recommend McDonald’s widen its product portfolio to target vegans and vegetarians in the market which would also attract a wider consumer base thus generating a better reputation for the business.

In addition, I can further recommend that McDonald’s not rush their productions, as from my survey 64% of those have complained that Mcdonald’s do not reassure their quality and presentation as it is not up to standard as they advertise to their customers. This, therefore, will highly impact the business as customers are more likely to leave the business and become loyal to other food industries that provide a better quality standard of products. Thus losing a huge proportion of consumers and having a negative reputation within the market.

The purpose of McDonald’s is to serve quality food that their customers can love and trust. They sell a variety of fast foods and offer a waiting service to those who want to eat at the restaurant. McDonald’s started as a restaurant in San Bernardino, California in the United States it then expanded further nationally then internationally. The main aim of McDonald’s as a business is to serve good food in a friendly and fun environment, to be a socially responsible company, and to provide good returns to its shareholders. The structure type of McDonald’s is hierarchical. As they have several layers of management throughout the business globally.

The external business environment is the various factors that impact McDonald’s actions and operations from outside of the business. PESTLE is used to analyze all the factors of external environmental impacts. The ‘P’ in PESTLE stands for Political which is things government policies, wage legislation, political stability, Tax, and trade agreements or restrictions this will have the most impact on McDonald’s financial stability. The first ‘E’ stands for Economical which is factors such as exchange rates, inflation, interest rates, cost of living, labor costs, consumers’ spending habits, and the growth or decline of the economy this will affect the amount of profit McDonald’s makes. The ‘S’ stands for social which is factors such as consumer trends, fashions, buying habits, lifestyle factors, online shopping, work-life balance, social trends, and demographics that will affect what McDonald’s sells. The ‘T’ stands for Technological which is factors such as Automation, innovation, upgrades, robotics and manufacturing processes, artificial intelligence, security, competitor activity, marketing, and employee processes this will affect how McDonald’s may run its business and how affective it runs. The ‘L’ stands for legal this is factors such as Health and safety laws, employment laws, copyright, discrimination, and recruitment laws. This will affect how McDonald’s is allowed to run their business. The second ‘E’ stands for environmental factors such as environmental restrictions imposed by governments, sustainable resources, corporate social responsibilities, use of plastics, waste concerns, fairtrade and ethical sourcing, food sources, transportation, supply chain management, and pandemics This may affect what they choose to do as social responsibility.

Corporate culture

The corporate culture of a business is especially important to building a good relationship between employees and the company. The business conducts its business to try to have high standards of fairness, honesty, and integrity. As a business, their values are ‘we place the customer experience at the core of all we do, we are committed to our people, we believe in the McDonald’s system, we operate our business ethically, we give back to our communities, we grow our business profitably, and we strive continually to improve.’ Mcdonald’s has the vision to be the best employer in each community and the world although there have been various complaints from the employees about low pay and insecure shifts. This may affect the employees’ lives and cause them to have issues with living costs.

Corporate social responsibility

As a business CSR is very important for how they are viewed externally as a business. They need to show that as a business they care about more than just making a profit and they are expected to take action on issues that come about in the world such as plastic pollution. Mcdonald’s has had many issues with their packaging not being recyclable in the past and it is a massive issue globally. So, they took social responsibility and changed their packaging to be 100% recyclable. Another example is that McDonald’s has closed its stores temporarily in Russia to show social responsibility and that they do not believe in the actions that Russia has taken against Ukraine.

What is McDonald’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy?

We take our social responsibilities very seriously. For example, we’re always looking for ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle in our restaurants and across our whole business. For example, we use low-energy LED light bulbs, energy-saving equipment, and waterless urinals, and recycle used cooking oil into biodiesel to fuel more than half of our delivery trucks. We also recycle the cardboard boxes used in more than 89% of our restaurants, and more than 85% of our packaging is made from renewable resources. We know that every little bit helps.’

The advantages of this are that they will attract more positive attention and more people may want to buy shares in the business if they see it doing well. This in turn will put more money back into the business. The disadvantages are that if they get bad press, it can affect how well the business does and their profit margins.

Competitive environment

Competitors are those who work within the same market as another, and they compete for customer loyalty and to be the biggest business in that market. McDonalds’ competitors are other fast-food restaurants. They compete with different businesses on different scales, international, national, and local. Their main competitors on an international level are Burger King, Subway, KFC, Wendy’s, and on a national level Jack in the Box. Competitive advantage is what separates businesses apart from each other in competition. Their advantage over their competitors is that their advertising campaigns are bigger than a lot of their competitors, they adapt their menus and business to the different countries of each restaurant, and they make sure the quality of the food is consistent across the company. The low cost of McDonald’s food attracts more people as with a lot of the businesses like them they get similar quality but varying prices. As well as this, differentiating the products and adapting to what the customers want and need means that they may have an advantage over competitors as they will gain more customers.

Employee Compensation and Motivation

As a service company, the performance of employees determines the success or failure of the company. McDonald’s should seriously consider not taking enough measures to make up for the criticism of employees. According to human capital theory, HR managers have a long way to go to judge employment and employee income behavior (Strober 2008). Lack of adequate compensation can affect a worker’s motivation level. The organization should ensure that its employees have sufficient motivation to achieve the best results. There are many motivational theories about the level of human motivation (Lindner 1998). The following is a list of these theories:

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Herzberg’s two-factor theory
• Vroom’s expectancy theory
• Adam’s equity theory
• Skinner’s reinforcement theory

There are two main ways to motivate employees in any organization to pay and recognize. According to Frum’s theory of expectation, the decision of motivation will depend on the desire for results. If employees have high expectations of the desired outcome, they will get a job from them and they will work hard to achieve organizational goals. The expectation theory of Porter and Lawler (1968) also argues that one’s motivation is to accomplish a task that depends on their expected benefits. Herzberg’s two-factor theory also involves organizational compensation, such as a salary that increases employee satisfaction and motivation for growth. From all the above theoretical discussions, one can be motivated to rely on monetary/non-monetary rewards to follow their energy.

McDonald’s HR managers should come up with a better compensation structure for their employees. Among them, the best way to maintain employee satisfaction is to come up with a salary structure, which always pays its employees a good grade, exceeding the minimum wage legally prescribed by the government. Because employee-related costs are bound to increase due to the increase in the minimum wage of McDonald’s, McDonald’s should maintain its cost control in other ways. Employee performance should also be strictly bundled and compensated by obtaining each employee. According to the reinforcement theory, Skinner is propounded, and the reinforcement is the result of the subsequent specific stimulus. Intensive stimulation is a stimulus that rewards employees who receive compensation and other benefits as they receive.

Lack of proper reinforcement stimulates employees leading to lower motivation levels and higher turnover rates. McDonald’s should try to improve the performance appraisal mechanism of employees so that it can easily explain the compensation paid to employees. McDonald’s also pays very little money to employees to meet their other expenses, such as health care (US $20 months) and rent (Strasser 2013). The sharp increase in the amount of money paid to employees to meet such expenses should also be considered by the company. In the United States, like In-N-Out Burger and

Chiptole Some restaurant chains pay more employees per US $ 10.53 and US $ 8.57 (Nolledo 2013 years) hourly wage. The wage figures paid through these restaurants are close to Obama’s proposed US$9 but they are still very short, and American fast food restaurants in the US are being asked for $15 per hour.

Chipotle pays significantly higher wages to maintain the satisfaction of its employees, keeping a distance from protests and lawsuits against the company. Even if it is not directly comparable to McDonald’s fast food restaurants, a good example is the US company Costcowhich exceeds the legal minimum wage to increase employees’ wages (almost 100%) (Chongyi 2014). The city has paid us a minimum wage of $21 per hour for employees who are far ahead of the US workers with a statutory minimum wage of $10 for such good grades, beyond the law, helping to minimize the need to keep employees happy and get A reputation as a leader in sustainable social development.

Overtime Abuse

Although McDonald’s does not work, in most of the shops, overtime abuse committed can affect its reputation through its franchise partners. According to Herzberg’s two-factor theory, health factors, such as improper working conditions, lack of job security, lack of benefits and can act as a morale factor against employee performance. McDonald’s franchisees may work overtime, which may be an incentive factor that does not meet the level of staff. Demand (1943) Maslow also addresses the various needs of people at different stages of their lives. One of the most important is that people like financial security, personal safety, and work safety, which will affect their motivation level for security needs. Lack of safety in workplace requirements can lead to loss of power and employee insecurity. Overtime overtime can seriously affect the safety level of employees and make them lose motivation. McDonald’s should be able to prevent abuse by overtime franchises every step of the way. The theory of fairness was proposed by JC Adams (1963), which is another important motivation for seeking a workplace between employees who talk about the fairness of the work they get. According to theoretical expectations, obtained from employees when they compare the work/output compared to the same office to be accepted by others in another industry output. Overtime abuse McDonald’s franchisee commitment to employees so that employees can see them contributing input and output (compensation) gap between receiving them. This has the potential to hit a level of enthusiasm and commitment of employees to the organization.

The best way to prevent its franchise partners’ overtime abuse by employees working in the conditions of its franchise partner of relevant policies. As the franchisor and the franchisee have entered a part of the franchise agreement, the franchise lays down the conditions, of the partnership between them. These issues range from the use of the conditions for payment of its fees to the franchisor franchisor will take full responsibility for marketing and promotional issues. Some franchisors also promised to help recruit franchisees and staff training franchisees. In this case, McDonald’s can put on the practice of overtime, and then pass the conditions of the franchisee. Monitoring and statistics on how employees work in strict time can prevent abuse of their franchisees’ overtime work. According to the same theory of human capital, it’s McDonald’s franchisee stern conditions can help control their overtime related to abuse.

McDonald’s can implement a new system, check-in and check-out process workers at its franchise stores are monitored by McDonald’s human resources managers regularly. This unique monitoring system can resort to overtime abuse franchise to stop. Abuse control of employees will also increase the level of enthusiasm of employees, customer satisfaction, and the company’s reputation in the public. A typical example, human resource practice in which the franchisor has put its franchise Subway is strictly controlled. Metro to conduct a strict monitoring mechanism for its employees, which involves the violation of anyone’s resources will be strictly punished (metro date unknown). Terms of entering the franchise agreement by Subway and its franchisees including the terms and human resources need to follow the practice.

Conclusion

Abuse of employees and protection of good human resource management practices compensation paid to them on combat work-related help increase employee productivity and well-maintained public about the company’s reputation. There are such as Wal-Mart, where allegations of unfair treatment of employees, damage the public reputation of countless examples. The company also had to face costly litigation and spend millions of dollars to come out of these proceedings. Another big problem is the destruction of organizational activities due to protests from employees. A lawsuit filed by some of its employees may be just a trend of begging. Therefore, McDonald’s should follow these recommendations, out the relevant compensation, and prevent the abuse of overtime staff-friendly practices, to maintain the enthusiasm of their employees and increase the contribution of growth in the company’s future.

“Welcome to McDonalds, what can I get for you today?” Is the first question we get as soon as we pull up our car to the drive thru menu. McDonalds entire process is so tedious that the entire process of ordering, transaction processing and the food delivery will be ready in less than 5 minutes. Behind over 1.7 Million Mc’d crews happy face, there are numerous innovations, marketing strategy, capacity growth as well as strategic survival planning. McDonalds has always been a go-to meal to any age, sex and demographic groups. The franchise became so popular that it has been able to open its store in 117 countries with an approximation of 1.7 Million Mc’d Crews. The word “crew” in McDonald emphasizes on delivering together by systematically prioritizing the task with highest level of customer satisfaction along with the friendly smile you can barely find in other restaurant chains.

Competition to McDonald’s changed over its existence

McDonalds was pretty much the most established sole fast food provider in the world. The term “Franchise” almost represented McDonalds in some way. Because of the evolvement of the other fast food companies, McDonalds got hit by the decreasing number of customers and lesser interest on its menu. In this fast paced and highly automated world, a chicken only serving restaurant is taking the crowd by its storm. In the recent article published by Kelso, “Chick-Fil-A hugely outperforms all of the major fast food chain in American Customer Satisfaction index as well as Chick-Fil-A drive thru test score of 93.4% based on speed, accuracy and customer service”. In-order to compete to other flourishing restaurants, McDonald has revamped their organizational process, establishment of Universities to study on cooking, storing and serving process as well as field service consultants to know more about the product taste and satisfaction.

The main operation performance objectives for McDonalds

Profit and operation performance play a major role in navigating the company’s future in today’s world. A company cannot sustain without any strategic planning and ensure everyone is working on core company goals. The first thing I’d notice that never changed for McDonalds is its world renowned French frys. Neither the quality nor the price of the frys has ever been compromised. There are tons of research McDonalds does on its university to ensure that the food taste never changes. The University also focuses and praise the innovative ideas that was very loved by the customers. The list of ideas includes but not limited to egg McMuffin, Fillet-O-Fish, Nuggets. McDonalds lets its franchise owners to voice their own opinion and honors the suggestive ideas based on the locations.

McDonald’s activities, in terms of its design, delivery and development, influences its operations performance objectives

The big Golden Arches logo we see while driving around the city is appealing. The golden Arches “M” logo is close to the most recognized logo in the world. McDonald’s strategic activities has always put them to be the top notch in the market. From Kids-Menu, kids-zone, McCafé, Wi-Fi to its clowned mascot, McDonalds has covered all age and ethnic groups. Recently McDonalds has done everything possible from its side to avoid the news headline. Even with raise in its crew salary and better management opportunities, McDonalds has failed to meet its standardized expectations. The news article presented by Parkinson in BBC news states that the protest took place in South Korea in February 2015 against a culture of exploitation, kitchen safety and how management is failing to raise its employee salary. But again, like 2 side of the coin, McDonalds is doing everything in its control to keep its employee satisfaction at the optimum level. According to Paul King, the franchise is spending as much as 24 billion on research and upgrades to stay on competitive edge on this market. For employee eager towards their career advancement, McDonalds has a Hamburger University in Illinois opened since 1961. The university provides a good platform for its employee to train them on communication, problem solving and management skills to advance thru their career. You can receive a degree in Hamburgerology while you are working in McDonalds from Hamburger University.

Smaller menu selection has always been in favor of McDonalds. In addition to that, McDonalds has been highly successful to keep the taste similar amongst its popular product. Let us take an example of French Frys into consideration. The preparation process requires some extensive automation, coordination amongst suppliers as well as preparation and handling expertise.

According to the article published by Jonathan Maze, “Chick-fil-A is the closest rival of McDonalds. The company is testing made-to-order chicken and last year signaled strongly that it would be a bigger player in the business”. The research is not only limited to the futuristic design of the restaurant and taste but also deep dives in getting itself into digital innovation such as kiosk ordering, mobile order and delivery.

Alternatives/ suggestions

It just seems like a few year ago when Nokia was one of the top selling phone company. Sky was the limit for the company as sales, performance and growth of the company was invincible. Now we all know that Nokia remained as a sad but bitter truth of the past. Nokia settled faster than the dust and now nowhere close to the market. Nokia simply resisted to change and failed completely. McDonalds learned the lesson from Nokia and is doing its best to adapt to the changes. The company is doing its best to improve its customer service, considering innovative ideas as wall as focusing on healthier alternatives. According to King P, McDonalds has been in Cleveland clinic and Tampa General Hospital for more than 20 years dedicated to offer healthy options for patients and visitors. To remain as undisputed leader, McDonalds is proving a healthy alternative such as a meal with a side of fruit servings, whole grain oatmeal’s, grilled option as well as low calorie dairy products. Global investment in technology, excellent customer service, planning and implementation of strategic method has been a key to success for McDonalds.

References

1. Kelso, A.(2018, December 20). Chick-fil-A is not McDonald’s Biggest Threat. Forbes.
2. Retrieved May 15,2019, from Chick-fil-A is not McDonald’s Biggest Threat
3. King, P. (2013). Much Ado about Nothing? FoodService Director, 26(6), 47. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=f5h&AN=87951917&site=eds-live
4. MAZE, J. (2019). CHICK-FIL-A IS MCDONALD’S BIGGEST COMPETITOR: The chain, which will soon be the country’s third largest, caters to the same customers. Restaurant Business, 118(2), 61. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=f5h&AN=134761136&site=eds-live
5. Parkinson, Justin. “What’s It Really like to Work at McDonald’s?” BBC News, BBC, 15 Apr. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32283560.

Work refers to any activity that involves physical or mental effort done to achieve a particular purpose. In other words, work is any energy-consuming activity that is directed towards the accomplishment of something. Work plays a significant role in people’s lives, and it brings along diverse benefits to the modern world. For instance, it promotes productivity in all sectors of life. Working for pay serves as a source of meaningful livelihood for many, and in that case, people can interpret the value of work in life.

Different people would have different perceptions about work, depending on the role it plays in their lives. Work is either paid or unpaid, but the paid category is what many people value most like work. However, these two types of work are certain to achieve a purpose in the form of productivity. Productivity comes from a commitment to accomplishing. Work is a source of meaning in life because it brings many benefits to people’s lives.

The value of work in developing the character of growing children has been pinpointed in the bible and other spiritual books such as the Koran. Teaching children lessons related to work is a vital responsibility of every parent who is concerned with the future of his or her children. My parents didn’t neglect the best lessons about work, as I grew up. It was always in the best will of my parents to ensure that my siblings and I were informed about the principle of responsibility at a very tender age.

The first lesson I learned from my parents was to take care of my possessions, such as my shoes and my toys. This humble introduction to responsibility would later give way to bigger roles, such as doing the dishes or making my bed every morning. All these were like great fun to me, and I enjoyed every bit of it, especially after it dawned on me that working efficiently with my elder siblings impressed our parents so much. My mother would often observe that work is good for children for it helps to train their memory and concentration. More importantly, it builds self-discipline by teaching them to be responsible in life, and this stimulates the sense of self-worth at a very tender age.

From these lessons, I have been able to realize the value of work in life and this has benefited me in many ways. Responsibility, attentiveness, punctuality, diligence, self-restraint, and neatness, among other virtues, don’t just happen from nowhere, but they come by as a result of the many lessons that we gain through life about work. Apart from the economical benefits normally associated with work, there is enough evidence that work is also good for one’s health and wellbeing. Work also brings people together through social interactions, thus playing a significant role in establishing strong interpersonal relationships in workplaces.

I have learned to take work seriously because I believe there is always a purpose at the end of every responsibility, which is delegated to me. No matter the type of work that I must do, I always focus on the outcome, which is likely to be realized in the end. This gives me complete happiness and satisfaction in my work.

Work brings fulfillment in life through the fruits of productivity. This in turn improves people’s ability to access better housing facilities and quality education for their children among other benefits. According to a shop manager, I had previously interviewed, many people are yet to come to terms with the real meaning of work, and some would tend to find value in paid work more than in unpaid work. My interviewee had observed that work is not only the act of doing what you love but whatever is accomplished to gain productivity of any kind. According to my interviewee, it is not easy for people to do what they love and to earn more money as they wish, but what gives one motivation in work is productivity, which is certain to be realized after the work had been done.

The value of work is well manifested in ‘McDonald’s – we do it all for you’ by Barbara Garson. Garson explores the context of work in McDonald’s, which is one of the most famous fast food companies in the world. The company is a leader in offering job opportunities for many young people seeking job opportunities in the U.S. As observed in Barbara’s essay, employees may find meaning in the job opportunities offered at McDonald’s even though the working conditions there have never been impressive to anyone. The working policy in the company is more than strict in a manner that makes people work like machines.

This habit deprives the workers of their ability and creativity as humans (Garson 152). The work at the company is usually too much and is normally characterized by low wages, in a manner that diminishes the value of the labor force.

The nature of the work in McDonald’s is very harsh, and this can be observed through the words of one of Garson’s interviewees by the name of Jason who had asserted that he would never think of going back to the company, not even as a high-profile manager.

All these claims are clear evidence that people can’t find real fulfillment in their work, but what matters most is the final productivity. Young people are always streaming into the company’s gates, seeking employment opportunities, and they never miss an opportunity owing to the company’s steady demand for the labor force. The working conditions in McDonald’s are very strict and poorly-compensated for any employee to cope with. However, the workers can settle small bills in the long run, and this is what matters most to them.

As observed in this essay, many people would tend to miss out on the real meaning of work. All of us can’t be fulfilled in the work we do, and neither is it possible for us to do what we love most or to earn what we need or deserve in life, but our motivation in work can be traced to the productivity of our commitment to work. Work means something that we accomplish so that we can achieve a particular purpose, which can be termed as productivity. As observed in Garson’s essay, the real meaning of work is the outcome that comes from it; the spirit which keeps people attached to their working environments.

Works Cited

Garson, Barbara. McDonald’s—We Do It All For You. Literature, Class, and Culture. Ed. Paul Lauter, and Ann Fitzgerald. New York: Adison Wesley Longman, 2001. Print.

Introduction

This primary goal of this memo is to argue that the jury’s verdict on the Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants case was not fair. This lawsuit had no legal merit, and should not have been won by the plaintiff. This memo will also address another perspective and will be ended with a rebuttal.

Facts

A 79-year-old lady has poured some of the coffee that she purchased at McDonald’s on her lap and received burns. She needed immediate treatment because the damage was severe and was disabled for a few years. She wanted a rather small compensation, but the company declined her demands. Such enormous numbers as $2,7 million were discussed. In the end, the amount of money that McDonald’s had to pay stays confidential (“FAQ About the McDonald’s Coffee Case” par. 3).

Argument

This is one of the best examples of unjustified and controversial lawsuits. The demands of the lady were unreasonable because she knew about possible injuries that may be caused by spilled coffee, and should be responsible for her actions. It should be understood that some products may be dangerous if a person does not use them safely. It needs to be said that the outcomes of some cases are unpredictable most of the time because it is a known fact that juries make questionable verdicts quite often (Lexington par. 6). It is especially true when it comes to huge corporations, and some of those decisions often shock society.

Most firms think that it is wise to settle the cases right away because they may receive unnecessary attention from the public, and trial expenses are often quite significant and should not be disregarded (“Tort on Stills” par. 4). It is highly unlikely that the same decision would be made if a small company was involved. Also, it is paramount to note that the number of such cases has increased dramatically after this one, and most of them are incredibly absurd. Most companies are ready to make necessary changes to ensure that the customers are satisfied.

Counter Argument

There is also another point of view that needs to be discussed. The reasoning behind such a decision is that McDonald’s knew about possible risks that are associated with this product but did not take necessary measures to warn customers about potential dangers. The company has received numerous complaints from customers over the years but did not address this issue because it was not viewed as something significant. There is also an argument that the temperature should be lower by approximately 10 degrees (Stout par. 19). Other restaurants in the area served much cooler drinks.

Rebuttal

However, it needs to be said that a complainant should have realized that it is a foreseeable risk that she takes, and it is rather evident that she is at fault. She suffered the damage because of her actions, and she was not careful enough to make sure that the cup is not tipped. She could have avoided such harm if she wiped out the liquid promptly. Also, it is imperative to note that some restaurants serve coffee that is even hotter than the one that McDonald’s offered. Companies don’t need to warn customers about dangers that are as obvious as this one. McDonald’s had to agree with the decision to protect business interests, and the image of the company is of utmost importance.

Works Cited

“FAQ About the McDonald’s Coffee Case.” Hotcoffeethemovie. n.d. Web.

Lexington. “Law V Common Sense.” The Economist. 2009. Web.

Stout, Hillary. “Not Just a Hot Cup Anymore.” The NY Times. 2013. Web.

“Tort on Stills.” The Economist. 2001. Web.