Category: McDonald’s

Introduction

The McDonald’s Company is the globe’s largest restaurant chain specializing in serving hamburgers among other fast foods. The chain of restaurants serves about 68 million consumers every day across the 119 countries with McDonald’s’ outlets. The McDonald’s Corporation has its headquarters in the USA (McDonald’s, 2013a). The company was started in 1940, originally as a barbecue center operated by Maurice and Richard McDonald.

During 1948, the proprietors reorganized the business, changing the restaurant into a hamburger. In 1955, businessperson Ray Kroc joined the business as a Franchising agent. Later, Kroc took over the business from the McDonald’s brothers and then expanded the business to a multinational enterprise (McDonald’s, 2013a). A restaurant under the name of McDonald’s is ran by the company. This can also be run as an associate outlet or a chartered outlet.

History of the Company

The McDonald Company started in 1940. Initially, it was operated by the McDonald brothers. The initial business was based in San Bernardino, California. The restaurant was the first to introduce the speedee service model during 1948, later leading to the contemporary fast-food place (McDonald’s, 2013a). The McDonald’s symbol was first used in 1961.

However, it was adjusted towards the end of 2009. During 1961, the company registered the logo of an overlapping M symbol (McDonald’s, 2013b). In 1962, the double M symbol was changed for a single arched M. The single M symbol was not used until it was trademarked in 1968 (McDonald’s, 2013b).

The present McDonald’s was born from the opening of the McDonald’s franchised restaurant in Des Plaines by Ray Kroc. Later, Kroc acquired the business from the McDonald’s. The San Bernardino outlet was destroyed in the 1970s before being sold. Since the start of its international expansion, McDonald’s has been viewed as a model of globalization and a mark of the American lifestyle (McDonald’s, 2013b).

Goods, Services and Operations Management at McDonald’s

Operations management at McDonald’s is the key method employed during the conversion of inputs like information, materials and labor into outputs like goods, services and value-added products. The operations management of McDonald’s includes the practices of capacity planning, forecasting, managing inventory, scheduling, motivating employees, assuring the quality, and control of activity.

Through the practices covered under operations management, the company improves the areas of product development, quality improvement and responding to change sin demand, among other functions that affect operations.

Through operations management, the company develops models of employing the most efficient use of the company’s resources towards the delivery of the finished food services required by their customers. Operations management also ensures that the company provides services and the products developed by the company in a cost-effective manner and at the right time.

Product planning and management are some of the main practices in goods and services planning. Product management entails the development of new product lines, which helps shape the future of the McDonald’s Company through increasing their reputation, market coverage, and the revenues obtained. In the case of the McDonald’s, the addition of new product forms a major component of the future-looking strategies.

The efforts of offering new products help direct the business of the company towards areas that satisfy the needs and wants of the company to a higher level. An example of these moves includes the account of Gasparro and Jargon (2012), which discusses the McDonald’s company planned to launch vegetarian-only outlets during 2013.

The shift in product and services management towards offering foods that are more health-friendly has resulted from the constant pressure to consume healthy food, among the modern-time consumer (Ashbridge, 2007).

McDonald’s Value Chains Management

The value chain of McDonald’s comprises of a number of aspects including the firm’s infrastructure, the human resource base, the technology employed by the company and the procurement process.

The inbound logistics of the company include the sourcing of raw materials and other fresh supplies like vegetables from pre-defined suppliers. As a result, the suppliers continue increasing their labor and capital needs as their production continues to increase from time to time (McDonald’s, 2013c). The McDonald’s does a vertical, backward integration as an effort to reduce its suppliers.

This is aimed at cost reduction and ensuring that they offer high quality products. Some of the products in question include milk and beef, which they source from the company’s farm. The McDonald’s checks the operational standards of their overseas suppliers in New Zealand and Australia by ensuring that they comply with the standards set for American supplier plants. The standards include food safety, animal welfare and testing.

The practices ensure that the consumer of the end product gets a high quality product. The McDonald’s Company operates many of its restaurants centrally, where central management system checks whether the different restaurants are stocked with all that customers may need including wrappers, food supplies and cups (McDonald’s, 2013c). The effort improves the efficiency of the supply chain of the company in different areas like buying policies, capacity and technology deployment.

The McDonald’s ensures that value is delivered at its different operational outlets, whether suppliers, employees or franchises. They do that by setting standards of cleanliness, product quality, and the superiority of service, waste management, energy conservation and sustainable packaging. The company employs all efforts to invest in green operations, regardless of investing in contemporary technological models (McDonald’s, 2013c).

Measuring Operational Performance at McDonald’s

The operational performance of McDonald’s is evaluated on a number of standards. These include the company’s performance in the supply chain, the satisfaction of customers, and the company’s progress towards strategic goals.

Other areas where the performance of the company is perceived include the gauging of operational and performance operational performance in the different areas of business. The other indicator used to show the performance of the company is the financial level of the company following their management structure (GAPbuster, 2009).

The supply chain standards used to gauge the performance of the company include the responsiveness of the company to the needs of its customers. The indicators of good performance for the company in this area include stock out probability, lead time, and the fill rate of the different outlets. For instance, in the case that an outlet is not able to supply the products and services required by the customers for a given day, it marks a negative indicator regarding the performance of the outlet and the central management model (GAPbuster, 2009).

An example is the gauging of product quality at McDonald’s, where emphasis is placed on the performance directly related to the company’s strategic goals. For instance, the reduction in the system resources of the company is likely to affect the supply chain management of the company negatively. Among the areas that mark the competitiveness of the company is the introduction of innovative products, including health foods, service reliability, continual product supplies and flexibility in service delivery (Ashbridge, 2007).

Another area that marks the competitiveness of the company is the measure of customer satisfaction. The customer relations managers of the company are tasked with the role of collecting customer satisfaction information so as to employ corrective strategies for service improvement.

The evaluation of customer satisfaction is done during the time of service, and talking to the customer during service delivery. The company also collects customer satisfaction information through letters or faxes from customers that had visited their outlets; talking to loyal customers for their feedback in order to identify complaints and possible problems (GAPbuster, 2009).

Operation Strategy of McDonald’s

The business structure of McDonald’s is founded upon geographic placement: the company has divided their market into five operational centers. The centers include US, Asia/Pacific and Middle East, Canada, Latin America, and Europe.

However, the major business area for the company is the US where they cultivate control while at the same time expanding to reach other markets (Mourdoukoutas, 2012). As a result, the company’s strategy is characterized by retaining its prominent role in the US market, as well as other global markets. The company has also realized that different groups in the newer markets, as well as the US market, have varied requirements and tastes.

As a result, they have adopted the operational strategy of product differentiation by target consumer groups as well as including varieties of products and services to meet the needs of different groups. An example is the case of India, where the McDonald’s is starting vegetarian-only outlets, compared to their traditional offering in the US and other areas (Gasparro and Jargon, 2012; Ashbridge, 2007).

Through the strategy, the company has realized the customer needs satisfaction as well as local development. The strategy of the company is also characterized by price differentiation, on the basis of the area of operation and products delivered by the company. The strategy of McDonald’s is also characterized by quality service, fast service, delivery of similar value at the different markets and cleanliness (Mourdoukoutas, 2012).

McDonald’s Forecasting and Demand Planning Style

BBC (2012) reported that McDonald’s, the second biggest food seller has shifted to opening vegetarian outlets. The company is renowned for its control and major stake in the fast food industry, but it is adopting drastic changes so as to meet the changing demands of customers.

The changes are also adopted, as a way of ensuring that the needs of emerging markets are met (BBC, 2012). According to the reports, the major market where the company is investing in vegetarian outlets is India and Muslim countries, where meat-free dishes are preferred.

For instance, at the Indian market, it is believed that cows are sacred, which makes the target population a non-meat consuming group (BBC, 2012). On the other hand, in Muslim countries, pork is believed to be unclean, which results in the presence of meat-free diets. In forecasting the needs of the Hindu consumers at India, McDonald’s plans to open vegetarian restaurants during the mid of 2013. The outlet will be located next to the Golden Temple.

This is found in Amritsar City, Northern India. From the demand style planning of the company, the company was optimistic about capturing the wide vegetarian market. The spokesperson reported that, during 2012, the company operated only 271 restaurants, which marks a very small coverage (BBC, 2012).

The company plans to take advantage of the visits taken to the Hindu pilgrimage center at Kashmir, where they plan to open a vegetarian outlet. From the evaluation of the forecasting and the demand planning of the company, it is clear that McDonald’s plans their business in response to variations in customer needs. The strategy has been very successful for the company as it has allowed its entry into the Indian market successfully.

Inventory Management at McDonald’s

Inventory management is a critical aspect of the company’s operations. Inventory management is the chain of practices that control the flow of the stocks required to control the company.

The McDonald’s Company employs the first-in-first-out rule in controlling its inventory (Rungfapaisarn, 2011). This method is effective for the company as it handles fragile items, which requires the company to handle or change the available inventory once or twice within any given week, depending on the area of collection and the business of the outlet.

Additionally, the company has invested in storage facilities, including refrigeration storage, where the inventory managers of the company, so as to ensure that the food items held as inventory are kept fresh. The company has adopted a just in time (JIT) system, which entails the supplying of products, immediately they are ordered. For instance, after visiting a McDonald’s outlet, it is then that the staffs begin assembling and preheating their products (Rungfapaisarn, 2011).

The inventory model is critical in offering high quality products and delivering better customer service. Based on the JIT inventory model of the company, the company can hold the costs required to purchase products like beef, cheese, bread, and chicken, due to their highly perishable nature. Further, the money held by the company is available for current usage, which allows the company better liquidity at all times. Also, the model allows the company to source for better raw materials, at the time of need (Rungfapaisarn, 2011).

References

Ashbridge, I. (2007). McDonald’s milk goes organic. Web.

BBC. (2012). McDonald’s opens vegetarian-only restaurant. Web.

GAPbuster. (2009). Mcdonald’s Training Manual 2010: McDonald’s Company. Web.

Gasparro, A., and Jargon, J. (2012). McDonald’s to Go Vegetarian in India. Web.

McDonald’s. (2013a). Getting to Know Us. Web.

McDonald’s. (2013b). McDonald’s History: Travel Through Time With Us! Web.

McDonald’s. (2013c). Sustainability Supply Chain: Focusing on the 3E’s: Ethics, Environment and Economics. Web.

Mourdoukoutas, P. (2012). McDonald’s Winning Strategy, At Home And Abroad. Web.

Rungfapaisarn, K. (2011). McDonald’s introduces new inventory/menu management. Web.

Strategic analysis

McDonald’s Mission Statement

“McDonald’s vision is to be the world’s best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile”.

Comments from management

In the company’s annual reports of the year 2010, the Vice Chairman and CEO, Jim Skinner notes that the company began to build its brand and strength around the world. Jim also acknowledges that the business environment during the year 2010 was challenging.

The company managed to drive its business through focused consumer insights in order to align its strategies, and improve on its key business areas, particularly the menu, restaurants, core values and convenience. In addition, McDonald’s management continued to invest in human resources and restaurants so as to increase customer experience (McDonald’s Corporation, 2010).

McDonald’s current positioning strategy

According to Andy McKena, the company Chairman, McDonald’s has a Plan to Win strategy. The company has used this strategy to implement its objectives for the past eight years. McDonald’s strategically position itself using the Plan to Win strategy, which has the core drivers of its business.

These include the 5Ps of price, promotion, product, place, and people. The company management has realized the potentials in every P, and it intends to exploit all the Ps. McDonald’s is using this strategy in order to focus on its right priorities, such as keeping its brand relevant and meeting the needs of ever-changing customers more so with regard to healthy food.

The Plan to Win strategy enables McDonald’s to be decisive, flexible, demonstrate strong business sense in order to meet the demands of their customers, particularly with regard to health issues.

The company believes that positioning itself with the Plan to Win strategy as served it well, and will continue to do so in the subsequent years. We can notice the above ideas of the company’s top executives in its mission statement.

McDonald’s SWOT analysis

McDonald’s SWOT analysis reveals that the company enjoys a higher ranking in the global food industry. It derives its strength from locations, such as airports, theme parks, busy roads and in Wal-Mart stores. It also uses quality food produce, such as quality chicken products, beef, and pork, among others. McDonald’s only uses brand names and supplies nutritional information on the food packages (Adcock and Halborg 2004).

McDonald’s weaknesses include high staff turnover. This has increased its staff training cost. The company also failed in the pizza test. This created limited competition ability among pizza providers. The issue of obesity is fast affecting fast food industry. However, McDonald’s does not focus much on organic food. Occasionally, there are concerns of quality due to franchises around the global. McDonald’s specializes in certain types of food. Therefore, it has no much variation in different seasons.

McDonald’s still has several opportunities to exploit. The company can still partner with several retailers. It also has an opportunity to focus on healthy and organic food in order to fight obesity concerns among its customers.

McDonald’s can also respond positively to social responsibilities such as concern for the environment. The company can exploit advertising avenues in its restaurants, provide play grounds for kids, and increase partnership with beverage companies.

McDonald’s faces several threats. The advertisement pundits criticize the company for luring small children and adults alike. At the same time, it also faces lawsuits because of serving addictive and unhealthy foods. In this context, McDonald’s cannot focus on healthy food as per every customer needs. Occasionally, there are cases and risks of food contamination, particularly e-coli. McDonald’s also faces competition from other fast food restaurants and consumption also depends on economic stability.

How McDonald’s spend its money and time

McDonald’s spends it time and money doing marketing and promotional activities. These include soft marketing tactics such direct advertisement, charity work and donations to enhance its corporate image. The company associates its image with benevolence so that children and their parents can it and its products. The company also spends its money and time on acquiring and training new employees.

Alignment of McDonald’s activities of the past and the Mission Statement

Most of McDonald’s activities are in line with its mission statement. The company strives to open restaurants and franchises everywhere around the world, and provide unique customer experience. However, issues and risks of food contamination are affecting its image.

Objectives for first food industry in the new business environment

Short-term objectives

1. To provide varieties of organic food to its customers within six months.
2. To provide conspicuous nutritional information on every food package.

Long-term objectives

1. To improve the public’s health through nutrition, food safety, and soft drinks.
2. To improve its corporate image as a healthy food restaurants.

Fast food industry is facing criticisms from the public about the nature of its unhealthy and addictive foods. In addition, there are also lawsuits regarding issues of obesity because of consumptions of fast food. Therefore, the current business environment requires the participants to align their objectives and strategies in promotion of healthy diets.

Key Performance indicators

The short-term key performance indicator to measure the achievements of these objectives lies in the consumers’ reaction to subsequent promotional activities. Promotions of healthy foods will result into increased customer buying behaviour. On the other hand, we can measure the objectives with the long-term key performance indicator. The objectives will result into reduced lawsuits and low number of complaining customers.

Why the objectives are legal and ethical, and the resources and financial capabilities to deliver them

These objectives are ethical and legal. They aim at reducing customers’ complains on issues of obesity and at the same time, promote healthy diets and eating habits. McDonald’s has the resources and financial capabilities to deliver these objectives. This is evident from the way the company has managed its past objectives for the past eight years using Plan to Win strategy.

Risk management strategy for operating in the new business environment

Product affected in the healthy range of menu items

McDonald’s French Fries and hamburger are the range of menus affected. This is because the two fast foods are popular and most addictive. Hamburger has become the most popular among McDonald’s fast foods. This is because McDonald’s serves it alongside other vegetables and some food additives.

Strength of the product (hamburger)

Hamburger is delicious and consists of beef. McDonald’s can use modern technology to reduce the fat contents, and reduce risks of contamination by removing E. coli and salmonella. This way, hamburger will create a strong brand for McDonald’s. McDonald’s can capitalise on reduced fat contents, risk and contamination free, and work with food safety institutions to advertise the product.

Capitalising on strength of the product using marketing strategies and promotions

Promotions and advertisement activities of healthy hamburger must reflect the above objectives of promoting a healthy diet and help in fighting obesity among its customers. These promotions are ethical and legal since they promote and advertise healthy diets.

Foreseen weakness of the product and contingencies to safeguard it from weakness

McDonald’s has a global presence. Therefore, not all franchises will be able to meet the requirements of healthy hamburgers. It would also be difficult for consumers to believe the company’s claims with regard to nutritional contents. McDonald’s must put contingencies to safeguard the product. The company must seek endorsement of food, nutrition and safety organisations to help it market its healthy hamburgers.

As consumers continue to demand healthy foods from fast food companies, McDonald’s healthy hamburger will be prone to imitation by competitions. Consumers may also reject the product due to chemical treatments it undergoes to eliminate E. coli and salmonella bacteria. McDonald’s must assure its consumers of safe and healthy meals. However, product imitation may be difficult to prevent (Solomon, 2006).

Reference List

Adcock, D. and Halborg, A., 2004. Marketing Principles and Practice. 4th ed. London: Prentice Hall.

McDonald’s Corporation, 2010. McDonald’s Corporation: 2010 Annual Report. Oak Brook, IL: McDonald’s Corporation.

Solomon, M., 2006. Consumer Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Europe.

An organization is established with the aim of making proceeds. The proceeds are earned in return of providing goods and services to the consumers who in return have to pay for these goods and services. An organization’s success is determined by how it relates with the general public. It is in this regard that organizations draft rules that are meant to limit their actions towards their customers and among themselves.

McDonald’s is among the most reputable food joints in the world. The company started from a very humble beginning but as for now it has many branches in various countries which make it a multinational organization (Funding Universe, n.d).

This paper focuses on the various challenges that this organization has been experiencing and the measure that it has taken. Every business has its own challenges no matter how hard the management tries to eliminate setbacks.

McDonald’s has managed to overcome the problem of running overseas branches but then that gap is filled by the perception of critics who argue that the organization fosters the consumption of junk food among children which is alleged to cause heart disease. According to Thilmany (2007) this statement can be very demoralizing to the administration of this organization.

Utilitarian would argue that that eating foods from the company can cause obesity and heart problems, thus not a good option for the majority. But deontological consideration in this concept would suggest that following the right procedure in preparing the food justifies its consumption. In essence, the motive is not bad as asserted by deontological consideration, but the consequences are considered inappropriate.

This implies that the critics don’t recognize the positive things that have been accomplished by this organization. To be sincere, McDonald’s has been promoting the education of children from poor backgrounds.

McDonald’s has been trying to create a balance between its employees and the customers and the neighbors as well. Children are prohibited from joining the workforce of McDonald’s. In response to the recent criticism McDonald’s food joint has introduced vegetables which are taken as a compliment to the said junk food.

Any investor must commence from a humble beginning as opposed to what many people think. Paluszek (2005) explains that the statements could be coming from the rivals of this enterprise. Rivals can insight customers in order to gain more customers.

We all know that when we walk into a fast food joint nobody is forced to take what they consume. Furthermore, it is not all obese children who owe their weight to fast food joints. This is because there are some people who are genetically overweight.

In response to the above mentioned allegations, McDonald’s encourages its customers to exercise regularly and also compliments its food with lots of vegetables. If one looks at this issue from another perspective its certain that McDonald’s is going an extra mile unlike the other food joints because restaurants are not under any obligation to advice their customers on what to consume.

Their major role is to ensure that the food that is served in their restaurants is healthy and free from contamination. This aspects is directly related to deontological approach to ethics, which requires people to act according to rules. They do this by evaluating their suppliers to ensure they exercise cleanliness in food handling.

According to Saether and Aguilera (2008), such a minor issue can lead to the crush of an enterprise that has taken so many years to nurture. It is worth noting that it takes a longer duration to attract customers but it only takes a few days to lose them. Building confidence and trust among customers is not an easy task hence the confidence has to be safeguarded.

This means that for this organization to deal with such a corporate problem it should involve the consumers directly in order to clear the underlying issues. McDonald’s has done this by establishing complaint’s office that are used to get feedback from customers. The response from customers is important because it’s used to identify the specific areas that require amendments. All in all achieving uniform customer satisfaction is not easy.

References

Funding Universe. (n.d). McDonald’s Corporation. Web.

Paluszek, K. (2005). Ethics and Brand Value: Strategic Differentiation. Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership Meeting. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics: Santa Clara University.

Thilmany, J. (2007). Supporting Ethical Employees. HR Magazine. 52 (2).

Saether, T. & Aguilera, R. (2008). Corporate Social Responsibility in a Comparative Perspective”. The Oxford handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Executive summary

It is apparent that Macdonald’s operation and supply chains have enabled the company to gain competitive advantage in the global market. Recent survey reports demonstrated that the company has strived towards developing sustainable and dynamic strategies in order to boost its operation hence remaining top among its competitors in the dynamic business environment. This paper discusses how McDonald’s operation and chain management has given the company a competitive and sustainable edge.

Introduction

Research has revealed that consumption of foodstuff has become a common practice that has gained acceptability in society. Therefore, companies like McDonald have embraced the use of sustainable practices to boost their operations especially through the use of supply chains (Vignali 2001, p. 97). Since it is one of the vastest food service shops, the company has numerous franchised restaurants in several parts of the world.

This has enabled the company to align its human resource and customer’s needs. For instance, McDonald has improved its operational management within the supply chains. This is one of the factors that have elevated its operations to a sustainable edge (Vignali 2001, p. 99). In other words, the company has developed a strong alignment between its franchisees and the suppliers making it possible to deliver great and relevant services to customers.

McDonald’s operations are fashioned in a manner that they use franchisees to reach out the international market. From a careful review of history, there are more than 10,000 franchise shops that are managed and operated within and outside the United States. Notably, the company has been able to have direct contact with local consumers especially through franchise operation (Vignali 2001, p. 109).

Moreover, the establishment of numerous chains in different parts of the world has enabled the company to reach out for large number of people than any other company dealing with foodstuff. For instance, evidence has revealed that the company has established a maximum of 20,000 restaurants in more than 100 states all over the world. Needless to say, 80% of these restaurants are franchises (Bryman 2003, p. 155). Therefore, developing a global marketing strategy is one of the issues that have positioned the company at a sustainable edge.

It is important to note that most of the organizational operations such as supplying and production of consumable products by the company are geared towards satisfying customers’ needs (Withiam 1997, p. 68). For this reason, the company’s operations are characterized by promotional campaigns, even distribution and production of standardized products for the sake of end users (Vignali 2001, p. 110).

Moreover, within the operations and supply chains, the company has employed a marketing mix strategy that acts as the principle foundation through which marketing plan is laid. More attention has been paid on the four concepts namely price, products, place and promotion (Withiam 1997, p 68). Additionally, there are numerous variables that have been incorporated in the marketing mix. These include people, process and physical location which are collectively known as the 7ps (Rainbird 2004, p.335).

According to Withiam (1997, p 68), supply chains have been perceived to be the most appropriate tools for broadening the demand for produced goods by the company. In addition, the supply chains ensure that the company is able to transact effectively and meet customers’ needs. For this reason, supply chains add value to the operations of the company. In fact, Rainbird (2004, p.331) refers to the supply chains as value catalysts.

At McDonald, the supply chains are deliberately created to ensure purposeful management and hence they help to transform the organizational potential into reality. It is important to note that the company has embraced the use of supply chain to reduce operational costs, reward consumers and boost efficiencies (Rainbird 2004, p.334). This has largely helped to elevate the reputation of the company on a global scale.

As a matter of fact, supply chains increase organization dominance within the market and hence triggers the management to fix impending challenges with the aim of increasing effectiveness in its operations. Consequently, this has made it possible for the company to achieve long term goals. Besides, Lashley (1995, p.29) elucidates that supply chain highly influences organizational operations and also triggers strategic thinking.

For example, McDonald Company has increased its productivity in order to ensure constant supply within the chains (Vignali 2001, p. 111). it calls for the management team to think rationally and come up with effective means of increasing the production ratio in order to achieve the set goals. Notably, increase in supply of foodstuffs through franchised restaurants has made the organization to become reliable.

In this case, customers gain confidence with the company’s goods since they are made available at their disposal. This is one of the factors that have enabled McDonald to gain popularity and acceptance hence heightening its operational sustainability edge (Bryman 2003, p. 155).

Withiam (1997, p 68) elucidates that future existence of business is highly dependent on the loyalty of end users. In this case, loyalty can be achieved by enhancing good quality and timely services to customers. There are numerous ways that McDonald has employed to boost customer loyalty in its operations and processes within supply chains (Lashley 1995, p.29).

For instance, reduction of prices has enabled customers to prefer their products to those from other companies. Therefore, it is definite that customer-oriented logistic has become an acceptable concept in the organization (Vignali 2001, p. 111). Needless to say, most organizations produce goods but they are not able to reach for consumers effectively in remote places.

For this reason, customers do not get a chance to utilize such goods or even note their existence. Hence, supply chain helps to reach out for large number of consumers who do not have to incur extra costs to get these products. Therefore, since McDonald has managed to access various parts of the world, this has boosted the popularity of its goods and hence elevated its sustainability edge (Withiam 1997, p 68).

For numerous decades, McDonald’s has been able to integrate its business processes through the supply chains. This has made it possible to provide service, products, information and also impact value to customers. Supply chains also enhance coordination whereby the flow of goods is regulated by suppliers and distributed evenly to end users. Additionally, establishment of numerous chains helps to distribute the company’s goods and services in different regions, a factor that increases the market share (Lashley 1995, p.29).

To recap it all, McDonald is a company that deals with foodstuffs. The company is one of the largest restaurants in the USA and has numerous franchised cafes all over the world. It has developed strategic operations and supply chains which has enabled it to heighten its sustainability edge amid competitors. For example, the company has numerous franchised restaurants all over the world making it possible to increase the sale volume.

The company has also established numerous supply chains in more that 100 countries all over the world. This has made it possible to distribute goods evenly to satisfy its end users. Notably, strong alignment of franchised restaurants and supply chains has made it possible for the organizational operations to satisfactorily meet the needs of customers. There are other crucial variables that have been a major focus for the company. These include quality, price, product, location, people and the physical environment.

References

Bryman, A 2003, “McDonald’s as a Disneyized Institution: Global implications”. The American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 47 no. 2, pp. 154-167.

Lashley, C 1995, “Empowerment through delayering: A pilot study at McDonald’s”. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 7 no. 2, pp. 29-35.

Rainbird, M 2004, “Demand and supply chains: The value catalyst”. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management vol. 34 no. 3, pp. 230-250.

Vignali, C 2001, “McDonald’s: “think global, act local” – the marketing mix”, British Food Journal, vol. 103 no. 2, pp. 97-111.

Withiam, G 1997, “McDonald’s: Hamburger purveyor to the world”. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly vol. 38 no. 3, pp. 68-69.

Introduction

Strategic management is about establishing visions and missions of a company. The missions and visions provide the direction to the company concerned and help it defines its position in the market amidst stiff competition from other industry players (Brubaker, 2005).

Corporate strategy management is viewed as the best way through which a company can easily establish a competitive edge over competitors.

The role of establishing the mission and the vision of the company is the sole responsibility of the top management, but for these missions and visions to be fully acceptable, all levels of managements and employees in general should be involved in a way in the process (Mourier and Smith, 2001). Once formulated the mission and the vision should be communicated clearly to the employees for implementation.

This report aims at presenting the findings of an investigation that was carried out to find out the process involved in the formulation of the corporate strategies at McDonald’s corporation, the worlds leading Fast Food Franchise Corporation.

The report also establishes the areas of their applications, levels of strategies that a company can employ and the implication of these strategies on the company’s well-being.

Overview of the company reviewed

McDonalds Corporation prides itself as the leading global fast food chain with a special appeal among many residents of America for its burgers and french fries.

The company started off in 1954 and has since grown many branches that are spread in all states of the United States of America as well as in other continents. Today, McDonalds serves millions of hungry customers across the globe through its franchised and fully owned branches.

The path to McDonald’s success has been shaped by its creativity and innovativeness that has made it remain focused to a particular market segment. Although there is nothing much to be differentiated in a fast food restaurant, McDonalds has over the years defied this and has always come up with innovative products that has seen the chain gain continued revenues.

Among the most innovative products to have ever been produced by this chain were Big Mac and Egg Muffin whose market response was positively overwhelming. The chain is also famed for its innovative tag of “Happy Meal” which was essentially useful in pooling children into eating at McDonalds.

From the short overview of the company; it is evident that McDonalds has a way of doing things in a sharp contrast of what others in the fast foods industry do. It is this uniqueness portrayed by McDonalds that the report seeks to examine.

Scope

The investigation was done on McDonalds as it is a company with a national and international outlook. The reasons for the selection of this business included intense competition that exists in the fast food industry.

This competition has led to the need of extensive research and development of advanced corporate strategies to counter the competition and to establish a strong presence in the market. Therefore, McDonalds provides a good source of information on the study of corporate strategies, their applicability, their usefulness as well as their role in business success.

Report Structure

The report will be presented in the following manner: first we will discuss the scope of corporate strategy, then the level of corporate strategies, process of formulation of these strategies, areas of application of these strategies and the importance of these strategies to the business before giving a final summary in form of a conclusion. All these issues will be discussed in regard to McDonalds Inc.

Scope of corporate strategies

Corporate strategy planning involves the process of formulating corporate missions and visions. The missions define the main purpose of the corporate body. They give an overview of the company’s intent and the reasons for its existence. Missions give a big picture of what the company aims to achieve in both the short-term and in the long run.

The visions on the other hand are aimed at explaining what the company aims to achieve in the long run. This can be either to be a market leader or to be a low cost leader in the market in the foreseeable future (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2006).

The visions should be formulated in a way that leads to the achievement of the mission of the corporate body on the implementation. The process of corporate strategy formulation should also take into account the goals the corporate body aims to achieve.

The goals define what the company aims to achieve in the short term. Other issue to take into consideration is the objectives the company aims to achieve. Strategies should be formulated to help the company achieve its missions, visions, objectives and goals.

Factors shaping McDonalds’ competition

McDonalds operates within a highly competitive market. Due to this high competition, every player in this industry must formulate survival tactics that shall ensure that the firm remains sustainable within the competing market.

With little restriction on entry of new players and little sunk cost being required for an investor to invest in this industry, strategies are of critical importance for a firms’ business survival. To clearly understand the competitive forces that face this company, two major tools of analysis shall be utilized.

The two tools shall prove of vital importance especially in indicating the position of the company in regard to internal and external environments. It is from this internal and external environment positions that the strategies for success are to be formulated. These tools are;

• Porter’s five forces

• SWOT analysis

Porters five analysis

Bargaining Power of Buyers

In the fast food industry, the bargaining power of buyers is relatively small. This is because food is a necessity and thus one has to buy it.

However, due to increased competition, the bargaining power of buyers has constantly been increasing. One can opt to purchase from another fast food restaurant which makes the issue of bargaining power of buyers be of critical importance to McDonalds.

Potential Entrants

Threats from new entrants are rife in this market. There are little restrictions that may hinder an investor from entering into fast food industry. The industry lacks government restrictions which makes it easy for any entrant to start operating in the market.

Besides this, the initial startup cost especially sank cost is little and thus there are many new entrants into the fast food industry. To avoid this threat, McDonald must remain abreast in strategic management to ensure that it remains relevant to its customers.

Substitutes

Substitute products also cause a major threat to McDonalds. Customers have a wide variety of fast food restaurants to choose from and thus strategic management at McDonalds remain of critical importance to ensure that innovative strategies meant to retain customers are put in place.

Suppliers

There is little bargaining power of suppliers in the fast food industry. These therefore do not pose any threat to the sustainability of the firm.

From the porters five analysis, it is important to note that strategic management remains of critical importance in the management of MacDonald’s. It is through formulation of various strategies that makes the chain remain relevant to the market.

SWOT Analysis

To further the understanding of the strategies that are used by McDonalds to ensure that it remains relevant in the market, an audit of both external and internal forces that are relevant in business process was conducted. The results of this audit have been tabulated as follows.

External Audit

Internal Audit

Analysis of the market share

Despite its operation in a highly competitive industry, the company enjoys an impressive market share compared to its competitors. At 19 percent, McDonalds remains the undistinguished giant of the fast food industry.

For the firm to gain this market leadership position there must be well defined strategies that have overseen its growth to this position. The chart below indicates the market share of McDonalds compared to its competitors. From the chart, it is evident that its closest competitors such as Burger King Corporation, Wendy International Inc., Jack in the Box among others are way too far down to be put to the scale of the giant McDonalds Corporation.

Chart available at http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YPULGUoMIYc/TaVELab75-I/AAAAAAAAAF0/g5DYbZ1GprQ/s1600/Fast_Food_Industry_Markets.jpg

Strategies followed by McDonalds to establish a competitive edge

The investigation revealed that McDonalds establishes a competitive edge through following one or all of the following strategies:

Low cost leadership

McDonalds is known for its low cost on various meals. To achieve this, the company must ensure that its operating costs are equally low to guarantee profitability.

Fixed cost per unit in the company is reduced by the reduction in overall cost, which could be used to give them an advantage over other industry players. This advantage is attained in some cases through offering low prices than other industry players at the same quality level or by charging premium prices that help them generate high profits.

These profits in turn are used by the business to produce high quality products that meet the needs of customers better than the competitors (Porter, 1980; Wankel, and Malleck, 2008). In this way the company is able to position itself as the market leader and customers’ choice in provision of fast food services.

Price leadership strategy

McDonalds also uses price leadership as a strategy to woe its customers. Most of the products at McDonalds have premium prices which makes it appealing to the major target markets. The strategy also is boosted by low cost policy that the company has utilized over the years.

Differentiation strategy

This strategy was found to be highly employed by the company. The aim of this strategy was to give a notion to the buyer that the product offered by the company was different from that offered by the competitor and offered better features than any other similar product in the market. The strategy is mainly employed through packaging and the design of the product (Treacy, 2005; Swift and Piff, 2005). Trendy names are also used by the company to brand its food that makes it appealing to the populace. Through successful differentiation, the company in question is able to charge premium prices for its premium products, develop further market for its product and to maintain its current market for its products (Purcell, 2008; Stanton, 2007)

Market Niche Strategy

Customers are generally known to have diversified needs which are very dynamic in nature. To meet all these needs, a great challenge to any company for this requires application of large amount of resources both financial and human. Therefore, to satisfy all these needs a company should devise a way to understand the needs, know their likely direction of change and the best way to meet them.

At McDonalds, this strategy aims at understanding a particular need of the customer and trying to meet this need better than the competitors. Therefore, instead of dealing with a varied area of needs, the company in question concentrates on the few areas of need.

For instance, McDonalds does not serve breakfast, instead it focuses on the lunch market as well as dinner clients, with lunchtime clients topping its list. Due to this concentration of market niche, the chain is able to meet the needs of customers better and therefore able to establish a competitive advantage over competitors (Hatton, 2007; Swift and Piff, 2010)

Strategy formulation

For McDonalds to remain competitive in the market there is a need to have a strategic plan towards its future success. Since its inception in 1954, McDonalds has remained a household name among many Americans as well as among the populations where its international franchise outlets operate.

This therefore indicates that there is something that McDonalds do that is not done by some of its competitors. The company strategies are formulated by following the following steps

Identification of the current position of the business

The process of strategy formulation starts with identifying the current position of the business. This helps the business to identify the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats it faces as a result of both internal and external environment of its operation (Conger, 2008).

The result of this analysis is usually compared with other industrial players to help identify the position of the business in relation to the similar businesses in the industry. This analysis also helps the business to identify the gap that need to be addressed.

Define the missions of the company

Once the company has identified its position in relation to other industrial players, the next step is to state exactly what it intends to achieve in the long run (Waters, 1994). The mission was found to be formulated with the aim of positioning the company in the marketplace.

In the process of defining this mission, one question remains critical to McDonalds, does the chain live to its mission day in day out? This helps the firm to remain focused on the mission of the firm that has driven the firm to its current success status.

Defining the vision of the company

The vision is derived from the mission of the company. This vision also helps define the direction of the company by stating what the company aims to achieve in the long run. The vision also helped define the activities of all employees to be in line with the missions and visions of the company.

Establishment of goals to be achieved.

Once missions and visions are established, the next step involves the establishment of goals to be achieved. These goals broke down the missions and visions into components that can easily be achieved on a daily basis. Achievement of these goals contributes to the achievement of the overall missions and visions of the company.

Formulation of strategies

Finally strategies are formulated in different areas and levels to help in the achievement of company’s missions and visions.

Conclusion

From this study, it was established that McDonalds have succeeded due to its unique strategic formulation of success policies that have constantly ensured that the company remained focused to its core objectives. The company also has survived in the fast food industry, which is highly fragile due to its unique differentiation strategy. It is through these unique approaches that McDonalds has remained a focused firm to succeed.

Reference List

Brubaker, D., (2005). The charismatic leader: the presentation of self and the creation of educational settings. New York: Corwin Press.

Conger, J., (2008). Charismatic leadership in organizations. New York: Sage.

Dunis, D., (2003). Applied quantitative methods for trading and investment. New York: John Wiley and Sons,

Hatton, A., (2007). The definitive business pitch: how to make the best pitches, proposals and presentations. New York: Prentice hall.

Mourier, P. & Smith, M. (2001). Conquering Organizational Change: How to Succeed Where Most Companies Fail. San Antonio: Project Management Institute.

Porter, M.. (1980). Competitive Strategy. New York: Free Press.

Purcell, J., (2008. People Management and Performance. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A., 2006. Research Methods for Business Students. 4th ed. London: Prentice Hall.

Stanton, E. (2007). Marketing Management. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2007.

Swift, L. and Piff, S., (2005). Quantitative Methods for Business, Management & Finance. 2^nd ed. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Porter, M., (1984). Competitive Advantage. New York: The Free Press.

Swift, L. and Piff, S., (2010). Quantitative Methods: For Business, Management and Finance. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Treacy, W., (2005).The Discipline of Market Leaders. New Jersey: Addison Wesley.

Wankel, C. and Malleck, S., (2008). Global sustainability initiatives: new models and new approaches. New York: IAP. Print.

Waters, D., (1994). Quantitative methods for business. London: Addison-Wesley.

Fast food businesses managed to survive the global financial crisis that the entire world faced since 2007. However, the fast food businesses too began to suffer the consequences of the crisis. In 2009, some fast food chains closed some of their branches as they posted low sales levels. McDonald’s, Yum Brands, KFC and Pizza Hut all posted decline in sales in 2009. The crisis intensified competition in the fast food industry.

Participants in the industry tried to beat competitors through the introduction of new products and prices. McDonald’s is one of the companies that participate in the fast food industry. It faced stiff competition from numerous competitors worldwide. Some of the key competitors include Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut and Yum Brands.

McDonald’s can use product positioning to ensure that it leads in the fast food industry. It can use this strategy to enhance its brand and lead other companies in the industry. This strategy requires that it pays close attention to the needs of the customers (The Times 100 1).

This is essential because there is international promotion and export, psychological and sociological issues that can affect the position of a product in a market. This paper examines product-positioning strategies that McDonald’s can use to promote itself and stay ahead of its competitors in the international market.

It mainly focuses on India and Africa as segments of the international markets. Additionally, it considers the international markets as areas outside the United States.

Background of McDonald’s

McDonald’s is a well-known brand internationally. It is a company that has international operations. Two brothers, Dick and Mac, established the company in 1937. In 1948, the company began to sell fries, hamburgers, soft drinks and shakes. In 1953, the company began to franchise the business.

The first franchises were in California and Arizona. The brothers adopted a system of operations that was efficient and ensured fast movement of customers. Currently, the company operates approximately 31000 restaurants internationally. Moreover, the company has employed about 1.5 million individuals in its restaurants. The company has operations in more than 120 countries.

The advantage that the company has had is that it uses a system that ensures efficiency in operations. The company uses intense media hype to support the efficient process that it adopted. The media hype has been a campaign strategy that the company adopted.

Product Positioning

Product positioning involves stimulation of a company’s brand and its services. The brand image of a company shows how clients perceive an organization. Companies promote their brands to develop personalities of their organizations.

Product positioning and branding are effective only if a company maintains consistency (The Times 100 1). Consistency is important in promotion strategies that a company adopts. Images and colours that a company uses in promotions like adverts provide a brand with distinguishable features. McDonald’s uses the Golden Arches logo to position its products in the fast food industry.

McDonald’s faces stiff competition in all the markets in which it has operations. In addition, it faces other challenges in its international operations. Economic statuses of some of the countries in which it operates pose promotion challenges. Technological and legal challenges also affect the operations and competitiveness of McDonald’s. Success of McDonald’s in some countries is also affected by social factors.

These challenges necessitate the need for identification of market needs. McDonald’s must identify the needs of customers to develop effective promotion strategies. After identification of the needs of customers is when it can position its products appropriately within each market (Mueller 29).

Through identification of the needs of the customers, McDonald’s has a better chance to satisfy the market compared to its competitors. The company has to identify its customers before it positions its products in the market. It must identify possible clients in all the markets in which it has business operations. To achieve this, McDonald’s must perform market research.

After McDonald’s has identified its target population, it has to develop a promotion mix that appeals to the recognized group. It has to develop a promotion strategy that incorporates price, product and place characteristics. The company has to ensure that its products are well received in the market, and the clients are able to afford the set prices (The Times 100 1).

Additionally, the company has to identify the television programmes that the targeted population like to watch. Identification of these programmes also assists the company to position its products appropriately. The identification of a promotion strategy and mix helps McDonald’s to improve sales and increase consumer loyalty.

Market research also assists McDonald’s to identify factors that influence the behaviours of its customers. There exist factors that influence the purchase decisions that people make. Thus, McDonald’s has to know that these factors complement the features of the products that it offers to the customers. These factors can be psychological, sociological or economical.

All these factors are vital in product positioning. Moreover, these factors can be crucial to the customers than the products sold. Through identification of these factors, McDonald’s can shape the minds of the customers. Hence, it can determine how to position its products appropriately within a market.

Key Issues

McDonald’s faces a number of challenges in its attempts to position its products within the international markets. The challenges can be in terms of prices, perception and competition among others. The issues can be classified into three broad categories. These categories are international promotion and export management, psychological and sociological.

International promotion and export management relate to price strategy and methods of operations that a company uses in its overseas operations. McDonald’s faces challenge in the establishment of the appropriate price for its products in some of the markets in which it has operations. Poverty and low amount of disposable income are key issues that the organization has to tackle.

The products that the company offers are perceived as expensive in some countries. In Africa and India, for example, many people cannot afford the prices. Additionally, the company has to target cities only with the products that it offers. People in semi urban regions are unable to afford the products sold by the company. They have low levels of disposable incomes and most of them practice agriculture.

The layout of McDonald’s is also a source of challenge in some of the international markets. Some societies are used to the hotel environment and not the fast process system associated with McDonald’s operations. This challenge emanates from the consumption patterns of such societies. They are used to consumption of breakfast, lunch and supper. Normally, lunch and supper involves consumption of a balanced diet meal.

The composition of breakfast depends on the culture of a household. However, the layout of McDonald’s restaurants promotes the consumption of burgers and other fast foods. However, Burgers are not considered as healthy foods for consumption, especially at lunchtime in these societies (Misra and Yadav 27).

Psychological challenges faced by the company in international markets relate mainly to religion, personality and lifestyle. McDonald’s sells hamburgers that contain beef or pork. However, extremely few people in some countries in which it operates consume beef and pork. In India and some Arab countries, cows are considered sacred (Tiffany 1).

Hence, it is a challenge for the company to enter these markets and increase overall sales revenues. Many people in such countries are vegetarians. They cannot consume the burgers that the company sells.

The company has to find ways through which it can capture these markets. These markets have high populations and can assist the company to increase revenues. India, for example, has a population of over one billion people (Misra and Yadav 28).

The perception and lifestyles of many people in international markets is also an issue that brings challenges to McDonald’s promotion strategies. Perception and lifestyle patterns are sociological issues. However, they affect the strategies that the company can use to position its products within some of the international markets.

Consumption patterns, for example, affect the strategies that the company can use to promote its products. People in some societies prefer to eat together at lunchtime. However, the pattern that McDonald’s has adopted encourages people to eat away from home. This is not common in some societies especially in Africa and India.

Analysis of the Issues

Based on the challenges described above, McDonald’s must identify suitable solutions. It must identify the challenge that it faces in each market and formulate a strategy that will position its products appropriately. One psychological factor that McDonald’s can identify is vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is widespread in some of the countries in which it has operations.

Some of these countries have high populations and promise high sales returns. The company must identify a strategy through which it can position its products in these markets and increase its sales revenues. This can assist it to stay ahead of its competitors like KFC and Pizza Hut. For example, in India, consumption of beef is prohibited. However, India has a large population and can assist McDonald’s to increase its sales revenues.

Muslims and Indians do not consume beef or pork. Furthermore, they consider cows sacred. However, McDonald’s was interested in the high population of the country. Hence, it developed a product that was able to position itself appropriately within the Indian market. KFC and Pizza Hut do not have a product that can position itself in the Indian market like the Aloo-Tikki burger developed by McDonald’s (Amoako-Agyei 1).

The Hamburgers that McDonald’s normally produce are made of beef. However, since many people in India are vegetarians, the company developed Aloo-Tikki. It is made of potatoes and spices and with no beef. The company also made hamburgers made of chicken and fish fillets. Moreover, the company separated the preparation processes of the hamburgers.

This was done to promote the “vegetarian experience” idea that the company developed for the market. Thus, the company managed to position its products after it identified the needs of the market. It understood the psychological factors associated with beef consumption in the Indian market (Tiffany 1).

One sociological factor that influences product positioning is consumption habits. In many countries, people like to eat out only on extraordinary circumstances. In Africa, for example, people meet and eat at home to share their experiences during the day. However, due to globalization, growth of cities and increase in full time employment opportunities, the trends have changed.

The growth of cities has promoted the need for fast food restaurants. However, consumption behaviour in Africa is different from that of western societies. Hence, McDonald’s had to develop new products and services for the African market. The strategy positioned its products before those of its competitors. Many African countries are used to the restaurant environment and not the streamlined structure of fast food businesses.

Additionally, consumption pattern in many African countries involve breakfast, lunch and supper. Lunch and supper involve consumption of meals that provide appropriate nutritional balance. Breakfast is normally based on a household’s culture. McDonald’s had to develop a strategy that considered these factors. The strategy has helped the company to position its products appropriately within the African market (Amoako-Agyei 1).

Product positioning is also influenced by international promotion and export management factors. Valuation of food in monetary terms is a sensitive matter in some of the countries in which McDonald’s operates. McDonald’s had to adopt a strategy that focused on the ability of customers to pay. Normally, the strategy of McDonald’s is to enhance sales volume.

It normally provides its products and services at prices that are considered affordable. However, many people perceive the prices that it offers as high. Therefore, it has targeted certain sections of the populations with its products in international markets. For example, in India and Africa, it targets the wealthy and the upper middle class people with its products.

These people have the ability to pay for products offered by the company (Amoako-Agyei 1). Moreover, it targets people who have been exposed to western culture. It also operates in principal cities only in India and Africa. People in semi urban areas are not able to afford the set prices.

This strategy has helped the company to position its products appropriately within international markets. The strategy has ensured that the company operates in urban areas where there is continuous growth in disposable incomes. This has enabled the company to maintain leadership in the fast food industry.

Hypothetical Strategies

There exist hypothetical strategies that the company can use to tackle the challenges identified. The company can determine an appropriate promotion strategy that can assist it to position its products in the international markets. It must identify the objectives of a promotion strategy that it can use. Objectives express the goals that a company hopes to achieve through a promotion strategy.

Objectives also direct the promotion plans adopted by a company and are vital in the assessment of the strategy used. Objectives can focus on acquisition of market share or improvement of sales volume and so on. The company has to identify its long term and short-term objectives to position its products. Notably, the long-term objectives can be divided into short-term objectives.

Hence, in India, the long-term objective can be to increase sales while the short-term objective can be to introduce the products in the market. On the other hand, the short-term objective in Africa can be to change consumption patterns while the long-term objectives can be to increase sales (Mueller 29).

The second step is to define the methods that can be used to achieve the objectives formulated. In this hypothetical strategy, a promotion mix can be used. McDonald’s has to offer products that clients want. The company has to ensure that there are numerous choices for its potential clients. It must also be ready to change products regularly to ensure that clients are satisfied.

Hence, in a market like India where people do not eat beef, the company can develop numerous alternatives to products that already exist. However, it has to ensure that it does not interfere with the sales growth of a product that customers already know.

Thus, it is essential for the company to monitor the life cycle of a product that it has developed for each market. Additionally, the company has to use adverts to position its new products within the international markets.

The promotion mix that the company can use also has to consider prices of products sold. The company has to consider the psychological aspects associated with prices of products. It must consider the perception of customers about the prices that it charges for products sold in the restaurants.

Hence, the company should charge relatively uniform prices in all markets even though some customers may feel that they are high. Low prices may make certain sections of the markets feel that the quality of the products is low. Thus, the company must protect the image and integrity of McDonald’s brand in its price strategy.

Low prices may also make competitors like KFC match with the costs of McDonald’s. This may not result into an increase in demand for products offered by the company. Hence, price reduction is not an effective strategy that McDonald’s can use to improve the position of its products within different markets.

Promotion mix that the company can use should include all communication methods. Adverts are the most effective method that the company can use to tackle sociological and psychological issues that affect a product’s position. The company can use radio and television adverts to promote the products that it sells. The company can then use adverts and other promotion methods like displays at the point of trade and fidelity schemes.

McDonald’s can develop a communication strategy that involves different promotion methods. This can assist the company to tackle the challenges posed by sociological and psychological factors associated with different markets. For example, television adverts can inform Indian clients that the hamburgers sold at McDonald’s do not contain beef.

On the other hand, newspaper adverts can provide the same Indian customers with more details about the hamburgers. Additionally, it is essential that the messages provided by the different promotion methods complement each other. Any contradictions may confuse the customer and affect the position of products sold by the company.

The promotions that the company adopts must also catch the attention of the customers. The adverts must ensure that psychological, sociological and other issues are tacked. The adverts must inform potential clients the benefits that the company provides.

For example, it can inform customers that the fast process system saves their time. It saves their time so they can be punctual at their work places. This can make customers who prefer to go home at lunchtimes reconsider their actions.

Finally, the company has to use layouts that are efficient and that make customers comfortable. The place of operation is vital in the promotion of a product. The place of operation has to consider many features other than the layout and points of distribution. McDonald’s must consider social aspects that are essential to some communities. For example, some communities like to eat together.

On the other hand, McDonald’s like a system that is fast and efficient. Hence, in such communities, the company can adopt a layout that considers the sociological needs of clients and at the same time ensures speed and efficiency in service delivery. The area of operation also has to consider the ease in management of all the activities that take place within the restaurants.

Implementation Procedures

The first step is to conduct a market research. This can assist the company to identify the potential customers, their ability to pay and their characteristics. Additionally, the company can determine psychological, economic and sociological aspects of the markets that can affect the position of the products that it offers. Secondly, the company can determine the best market entry method.

The company can identify the best method based on the features and beliefs of the potential customers. It can develop and promote products that meet the needs and features of the customers. The company can then develop promotion methods that explain to the customers why the products suit them (Doole and Lowe 8).

In this way, the company will tackle issues that it identified through market research. The promotion strategies used must also ensure that the international brand of the company is not compromised by the modifications made on the products offered to the customers of a region.

Expected Results

The implementation of the hypothetical strategies described should assist the company increase the volume of sales. The strategies can assist the company to shape the minds of clients and at the same time meet their needs. The strategies can enable the company to maintain international standards in promotion and export and tackle sociological and psychological issues associated with different international markets.

The strategies can also enable the company to develop new versions of products that it normally sells (Doole and Lowe 8). The new versions can suit the needs of different segments of the international markets.

Finally, the strategies can assist the company to maintain leadership in the fast food sector. This can be achieved since the strategies can assist the company position all its products appropriately within the different markets in which it has business operations.

Conclusions

The goal of this paper was to determine ways through which McDonald’s could position its products within international markets. It examined ways through which the company could do so by identification of effective strategies. It considered international promotion and export, psychological and sociological issues that can affect the position of products offered by the company.

It then provided different examples in Africa and India and provided strategies that could be applied to solve the problems posed. Additionally, this paper provided hypothesized strategies that can be used to improve the position of products offered by McDonald’s.

It discussed promotion strategies that the company can employ to tackle the challenges posed by the different markets. It also discussed the advantages that can be realized through implementation of the strategies. Finally, it provided a brief procedure that can be used to implement the hypothesized strategies and the expected outcomes of the plans.

Works Cited

Amoako-Agyei, Erika, Egypt’s McArabia: How McDonald’s and other global firms integrate into African markets. 2011. Web.

Doole, Isobel, and Lowe, R. International Marketing Strategy: Analysis, Development and Implementation, London: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.

Misra, Sanjay, and Yadav, P. International Business: Text and Cases, New Delhi: PHI learning, 2009. Print.

Mueller, Barbara. Dynamics of International Advertising: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives, New York: Peter Lang, 2011. Print.

The Times 100, The marketing process: A McDonald’s Restaurants case study. 2012. Web.

Tiffany, Hsu, Vegetarian McDonald’s: Its first non-meat restaurant to open in India. 2012. Web.

McDonald’s has always been associated with the American way of life but it has also become a target of various accusations as it is believed that the food sold there is unhealthy. Numerous people sued the company and tried to prove that McDonald’s was the reason of their poor health conditions, obesity and some kind of addiction. For instance, Pelman v. McDonald’s is one of examples of such concerns.

Parents of a teenager who suffered from obesity tried to prove that McDonald’s was responsible for the girl’s health condition (Wald, 2003). However, it was decided that McDonalds could be only partially responsible for health problems as the food bought from the famous chain constituted only the fifth part of the girls’ diet.

Clearly, there are other examples of cases against the fast food chain and the question whether McDonald’s and other fast food chains have to be judged negligent for providing harmful food, failing to inform consumers about hazards and deceptive advertising seems to be unanswered. However, there is an answer to the question.

Admittedly, fast food has been a topic of a heated debate for a while and it has been acknowledged that it can have a harmful impact on people’s health if it is the basis of their diet and if there is lack of exercise.

There was time when the risks were not researched well enough and people did not realize that there can be detrimental outcomes. However, now numerous films and TV programs have been made and people are aware of the hazards. More so, the chains are forced to change their packaging and advertising, and even contents of their products removing some elements.

In the 2010s, consumers have become more attentive and companies have become more responsible. Hartman and DesJardins (2007) note that consumers are willing to buy from responsible companies. At the same time, companies are trying to show their readiness to respond to this and change their approach.

For instance, Kraft Foods changed their advertising and do not target at children from 6 to 11 (Food fight, 2005, para. 3). Officials have also developed regulations concerning diets at schools, norms of advertising and so on.

Therefore, at present, it is impossible to state that fast food chains are negligent and fail to inform people about possible hazards. These arguments are no longer timely. Now people are responsible for their lifestyles and diets and it is their right to choose. Clearly, McDonald’s may change their message and add such concepts as exercise and healthy eating.

Fast food chains should also stop targeting at children and many chains have already done that (Food fight, 2005, para. 3). Fast food chains have changed their menus and added a variety of healthier products. Therefore, McDonald’s and other companies are offering products and it is each person’s responsibility to make the best choice for him/her.

In conclusion, it is possible to note that fast food chains have been in the spotlight as they were accused of selling harmful products without informing people. Nonetheless, hamburgers cannot be seen as the evil that destroys people’s lives since they can be only a small part of the diet. Some people try to put the entire responsibility on others (fast food chains, in this case).

However, it is impossible to ban products even though excessive consumption of them can lead to serious health issues. It is better to teach people and raise awareness about hazards and the problem will cease to exist as there will not be demand and there will be no supply of these products.

Reference List

Food fight: Obesity raises difficult marketing questions. (2005). Web.

Hartman, L., & DesJardins, J. (2007). Business ethics: Decision-making for personal integrity & social responsibility. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Wald, J. (2003). McDonald’s obesity suit tossed. Web.

McDonalds’ Industry

McDonalds are restaurants founded by Maurice and Richard at San Bernardino within the state of California in the USA (McDonald’s Mission and Corporate values, 2010). The company operates in the hospitality industry as a unit offering foods and beverages to its customers.

The industry holds various units including bars, tourism, accommodation, transportation, and event planning among others (Dahmer & Kahl, 2009). It provides services of adverse nature and structure through catering for the basic and supplementary needs of people in the nation.

Strategy

In 1948, the restaurant improvised a speed serving system which increased it efficiency and gained more customers than before. The company changed its administrative bodies of management severally. In addition, it has changed its logo for a number of times for the purpose of marketing and advertisement (Pride & Ferrell, 2008). The restaurant operates in 119 countries around the world.

In the countries, it has thirty four thousand restaurants that operate under its headquarters in Illinois (Franz, 2010). The restaurant offers sandwiches, breakfast, soft drinks, and desserts. The restaurants in other various countries deviate from the standard menu fitting the culture of the countries.

For example, china serves soup while the Indian restaurants refrain from serving beef. This is due to the religious taboos that exist in the country. They have the outdoor and indoor serving that fits the customer’s choice and decisions. Therefore, the restaurant is all-inclusive and fits every social class making its strategies effective and winning.

Mission and Competitors

McDonalds’ mission is to become a favorite place of choice during eating and refreshments (McDonald’s Mission and Corporate values, 2010). Consequently, it provides customers with quality foods and neat surroundings. The company’s human resource is committed to serve and tackle the requirements of the customers with respect and appreciation.

Their services and sales are reliant on the operators, suppliers and employees (McDonald’s Mission and Corporate values, 2010). Like other businesses offering complement services, McDonalds takes the requirements of the community into consideration through giving back from their profits. In fact, it has tried to solve problems identified when giving the services.

For instance, the company has been offering products that have high calorie. The calorie products have been the target of criticism from many points of the community (Dahmer & Kahl, 2009). Therefore, most customers feel that they should take food with fewer calories than the restaurant offer in the menu. Most of the current customers are aware of the dangers that the food bring to them.

These dangers include obesity, high blood pressure and gaining unnecessary weight (Dahmer & Kahl, 2009). In addition, the restaurant did not offer bitter drinks that help in breaking down the fats they consume.

Subsequently, some customers got cautious of this situation and preferred to make food at home than visiting the restaurant. It is, therefore, apparent that the objective of maintaining quality services to customers is handled tentatively. It leads to high number of customers due to high level of satisfaction, which brings elevated profits to the restaurants.

Support of Strategic Objectives

Primarily, the mission, vision, and values of the company dictate that the company is directed by goals alongside ethical practices. This attribute is perceived from the idea that strategies have been set fulfill the mission statement. Furthermore, leaders follow the company’s progress through monitoring the work of the employees in order to eliminate the uncompetitive ones or motivate others through gift cards and promotions.

Company and Leadership

McDonald restaurants exemplify some of the companies, which are well-established in the hospitality industry globally. It is a company that has a capability to bring foreign income and investments in different nations as well as creating a code of unity among nations.

The mission statement directs the managers to expand the company and reach people globally. On other hand, the vision and value statements dictate the strictness that the leaders must apply to provide quality foods and beverages

References

Dahmer, S. J., & Kahl, K. W. (2009). Restaurant service basics (2nd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

Franz, M. J. (2010). Fast food facts: nutritive and exchange values for fast-food restaurants. Minneapolis, Minn.: International Diabetes Center.

McDonald’s Mission and Corporate values: About McDonalds (2010). Web.

Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2008). Marketing (14^th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Introduction

A compensation strategy is one of the most important administrative duties of the human resource management that needs to be conducted with precision.

The management must ensure that as they strive to offer attractive remunerations, the firm should be able to meet the wage bill without affecting its normal operations. In this paper, the researcher will use four-market analysis to analyze the compensatory strategy that Target and McDonald’s use in their respective industries.

Target

Compensation strategy using four-market analysis

Target is one of the leading retail stores in the United States. The firm has been considered one of the best employers in the market. In order to understand the compensatory landscape of this firm it is necessary to apply the framework of the four-market analysis at this stage.

External labor markets

According to Greer and Kolbe (2003), external labor markets refers to “A situation where workers move somewhat fluidly between firms, and wages are determined by some aggregate process where firms do not have significant discretion over wage setting” (p. 78).

This means that Target do not have the sole discretion of setting the wages of the employees they hire. In case the employees consider the remuneration offered to be unattractive, they can easily shift to other better paying companies like Wal-Mart. For this reason, Target will have to use the market aggregate.

Internal labor markets

Internal labor market refers to a situation where a firm considers filling the vacant positions with its current employees by just transferring them or offering them promotions (Iman, 2006).

In this strategy, the firm may have a better chance of defining the wage that is to be offered to the promoted or transferred employee. Target Stores has been using this strategy for various reasons. It offers the management a higher control over its employees and the compensatory approach taken by the firm.

Capital markets

The capital market may also influence the compensatory strategy that a firm uses. The capital market in the United States is one of the most attractive ones in the world. The firm can access capital market without any complication.

This means that it has the capacity finance to fund its short-term financial obligations such as paying the employees. The management can also get additional finances from the capital market to support its operations in case it is financially strained. This increases its ability to offer its employees attractive remunerations.

Customer markets

The market for Target Corporation is very lucrative. The market in the United States forms a very attractive market because of the high population and purchasing power. Most Americans spend a good part of their income, unlike what happens in the developing nations.

This means that Target can be very profitable if the management employs effective strategies to tap into this market. The increased profitability will enhance the financial power of the firm. This will make it easy for the management to set attractive remunerations to its employees.

Highly influential, large population job in the organization

At Target, the highly influential, large population job is the marketing team. What Target offers is not very different from what Wal-Mart or any other retail stores in the country offer. It is the work of the marketing team to convince the market that this firm has some unique features that make it better than other market competitors.

There will be a huge economic difference based on the performance of this team. When the performance of the marketing team is poor, then there will be no customers visiting the stores regularly because of the stiff competition.

When their work is mediocre, then the customer stream may not be attractive enough to sustain the operations of the firm. If their work is outstanding, the firm will be able to sustain the market competition through increased sales in the market.

McDonald’s

Compensation strategy using four-market analysis

McDonald’s is one of the leading fast food stores in the world. Although its primary market still remains the United States, the firm has made successful entry into the European, Asian, and part of the Middle East and African markets.

External labor markets

Given the fact that McDonald’s operates in the global market, the firm has relied on the external labor markets, especially outside the United States. In this industry, the employees’ movement from one company to another has remained high not only in the United States but also in other world markets. This has forced this firm to base their compensatory strategies on the market aggregates.

McDonald’s pays most of its employees based on the market rates. This has worked well for the firm in the developing economies where the cost of labor in the market remains low. However, it has been costly to compensate its employees in the United States and Europe.

Internal labor markets

McDonald’s has always strived to use the internal labor markets strategy in its outlets within the United States. Although it has proven difficult to retain the employees in this industry, the management unit has always made an effort to ensure that most of its valuable staff such as the top chefs and marketing officers are retained.

This has enabled the management to have a compensatory power over this group of employees. However, this power must be exercised having in mind the fact that these valuable employees can shift to other firms if offered better packages.

Capital markets

The capital markets in the countries where McDonald’s operates are varied. In the United States and other developed countries, the capital market is well developed, and this means that the management can access additional funds easily through the sale of its shares.

However, this is not the case in some of the developing countries. This sometimes forces the firm to get extra funding from its headquarters in case this is necessary (Alexander, 2008). This limited access to extra sources of funds makes it difficult to meet short-term costs.

Customer markets

The consumer market has remained very attractive for this firm. According to Munizzo and Virruso (2009), fast food industry has experienced impressive growth over the past few years. The decision of this firm to expand to the emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil has proven beneficial to this firm.

The increasing population of the middle class in these countries has helped the firm to remain profitable. This has offered it a greater financial power to offer attractive remunerations to its employees.

Highly influential large population job in the organization

In this firm, the highly influential large population job is the team of chefs. Given that this is a fast food outlet, consumers will only visit the facility if they are assured of good products.

There will be a massive economic difference to the organization based on the performance of the organization. If these employees’ performance is poor, then the firm may be forced to close. When their performance is outstanding, then the firm will remain highly profitable.

References

Alexander, C. (2008). Market Risk Analysis, 1: Quantitative Methods in Finance. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Greer, G. & Kolbe, P. (2003). Investment analysis for real estate decisions. Chicago: Dearborn Real Estate Education.

Iman, A. (2006). Basic aspects of property market research. Mumbai: McMillan.

Munizzo, M. & Virruso, M. (2009). General market analysis and highest and best use. Mason: Cengage Learning.

Executive Summary

McDonald’s began with the two brothers opening a restaurant in 1940 and the only things they served at that time were hotdogs and shakes though later they came to increase their menu to 25 items.

In the past the company has faced some challenges which included competition from other industry players such as the King Burger, poor management, and lack of response to the changing tastes of the branches and consumers in general about their products both in the motherland and other countries where they are conducting business.

For continued success of the company and increase in its market share, going global was a very important consideration. In analyzing the company the study focuses on objectives and the strategies the company needs to implement to expand its market share and retain the current market share. The study also tries to summarize the company marketing strategy, segmentation, and targeting.

Introduction

The firm (McDonald’s) is among the most performing restaurants in the globe and has really improved the living standards of many. The restaurant has been making huge proceeds from the sale of their products making it a very successful venture. The restaurant was pioneered in the year 1940 by two siblings (Mac and Dick McDonald) in California.

Initially, they owned a hotdog stand, and later they increased to around 25 items, little did they know that one day what they were making could become one of the leading restaurants in the world touching the lives of both the old and the young everyday (Anon, Pg 1).

The restaurant grew immensely acquiring huge business expansion strategies. Then in 1954, Ray Kroc a distributor of milk shake maker headed west on hearing of the mc Donald’s brothers, he gave them the idea of opening up several restaurants to the Mc Brothers to sell 8 of his multimixers to each and everyone (Rangnekar 1).

Mission

The company’s mission is complete commitment to quality, service, cleanliness and value. with their global strategy being to be a customer driven, goal oriented, and achieving sustainable growth and designed to increase restaurant visits and grow brand loyalty among new and existing customers (Rangnekar 1).

Market Objectives

In marketing the company has simplified its marketing objectives and has elaborated them through the seven Ps of marketing

Product

The company products are standards in all franchises however the company adjusts according to the culture of the different countries they seek to penetrate. For example in India they offered vegetarian burgers since their culture does not believe in eating beef. In other places of the Asian continent their love for spicy tastes saw the introduction of spicy burgers, chicken, and seasoning. This provides options for all tastes thus they are able to reach larger number of customers (Yousaf 9).

Price

Their products differ in the different branches they have due to the difference in the expenses incurred and their geographical locations. The main company’s objective when determining the price is the product profitability and consumers affordability.

Placing And Distribution

This is mainly influenced by the consumer population demanding their products, and income trends among other factors. This objective aims at distributing the company products according to how it is demanded. For example it would be irresponsible of the company to open a branch and distribute its burgers to a war torn country like Somalia where bombings take place any time.

Promotion

The company promotions are made internationally and locally by the mother company. The aims of their promotion are to attract new user into their products thereby increasing their market share. The promotion has really boosted the company’s sales thus ensuring steady growth.

People

The main aspects of this objective are about the service personnel (those who are employed by the company and the customers who buy the company products). The company has been keen to create a favorable environment for business and to promote the service aspects of their products.

The staff stands by the customer i.e. here the client is always right. This approach is very adorable as the friendly environment created between the customers and the company staff ensures that the market share remains secure.

Process

The process involved in the delivery of the company products and it is advisable to find ways in which the service provision can be made better. The quality control standards and the extent of customer contact.

The last P which the company considers in its objectives is the physical evidence. This is how the customer judges and evaluates the company products from those of their competitors. It entails understanding how the customers feel about certain products and involves both the tangible and intangible aspect of the product. Which characteristic or quality the customer judges to be better than the other (Anon 4).

Financial Objectives

A company financial objective is always based on the marketing objectives which the company seeks to fulfill.

One of the company short term objectives is that the company intends to cut its capital expenditure. The company’s short term objectives will be cutting its capital expenditures and the extra money saved be used to pay the shareholders by repurchasing the shares and paying more dividends while the company long term objectives were to increase annual growth sales and increase the operational capital of the company.

Target Markets

For a company to reach its customers and satisfy their needs, a company always divides its market pool according to the various targets existing. There are three considerations in target marketing that the company considers and they are market segmentation, market targeting and market positioning.

To reach the target markets, the company has divided its market into segments. This procedure entails categorizing broad (product) markets and dividing them to decide on target markets and build up the theoretical market mixes.

A key objective of marketing is always to satisfy the needs of specific group within the market pool. Ideally a good market segment should meet the following criteria:

Homogenous: the customers within a similar market segment should have as similar tastes as possible with respect to their marketing mix.

Heterogeneous: clients respond differently to the market situation.

Substantial: investing in any marketing segment should be profitable thus the segment should be big enough to make some positive results

Any market segment should be finally operational in that the dimensions should be useful for identifying customers and deciding their mixes. The trait which aids in dividing the market (segmentation) includes age, income location, and family size.

Ways of developing market oriented strategies for McDonalds should either:

Single target market approach: this involves segmenting the market and then picking the homogenous segment which seems profitable.

Multiple target market approach entails dividing the market and making a choice of more than one segment thereby treating each division as a diverse (market) target that requires varied marketing mix. Consequently, the organization can employ the joint (target) market strategy, which joins more than one submarkets.

Of late the firm has been targeted on obtaining social responsibilities thus generating vigorous marketing campaigns geared towards on a lifestyle that is healthier and fit. The campaigns are as well meant to make a distinction among the many target clients. As Weinheimer (1) asserts the organization is employing (psychographic) segmentation and social responsibility in attaining its marketing objectives.

McDonalds are also in the verge of finding new markets in Africa and Asia as noted by Smith (1). The company has 1000 branches in China and intends to build another 1000 branches within the next 4 years this is due to the growing market of their products in China.

India and South Africa were also indicated as other countries having critical masses that can attract Oakbrook a branch of McDonalds to invest there. Thus, opening new branches in the places with the suitable markets is another way of reaching unexploited markets.

The changing age structure in Australia is another course for McDonald to change their market orientations. Like many nations of the world, birth rates in the region has gone down with the number of dependants (the aged) swelling by the day. This implies that other market territories need be sought since market is declining in this region.

The final target marketing stage is coming up with a market mix which is essentially a set of (controllable) marketing variables that the firm blends to yield the reaction it would wish for from the particular target markets. Different market segments require different market mixes since they have different tastes and preferences due to the variation of age, gender, and even demographic locations.

Positioning

For a long period of time McDonalds have been the market leaders in America and through out the world and though there has been competition from other companies such as the Hungry Jack, the company has all along succeeded in keeping its competitors at bay. To achieve that fete the company has been doing the following:

Execution

In order to reach the target market the company will improve customer experience world wide, offer the consumer greater varieties of their products and maintain a good quality of their products. For example, the company has been too innovative in their production process with the recent installation of EFTPOS machines.

This has enabled the firm manage differentiating itself from the market rivals. This among other processes is viewed as convenient and makes the product consumption easier.

To retain its world wide customers the company has devised other strategies for example when they offered 2 dollars burger to its customers its competitors did nothing to counter that move. This shows that as the largest industry players the company receives revenues which allow it to have these special offers.

Expansion

The company intends to add to their already established McDonald branches, stretch its customers’ perception about the brand and then promote their brands.

With the company intention of opening more branches around the world as already being experienced in China, this will position the company as the market in the fast food industry with the other competitors having to copy McDonald in order to expand their markets also.

Strategy Summary

We can summarize the company strategy by indicating that the company is fully determined to capture more customers by offering its customers convenience, variety and value in its products. The offer of the two dollar burger is such an example that the company intends to retain and even expand its market share both at the present moment and in future.

The strategy of using low priced menus is another way which intends to increase the number of customer visits to their restaurants all over the world as they will be affordable to many. The company also intends to increase their branches to reputable sites offering conveniences to customers and profitable to them and invest deeply in such places.

To increase their products awareness has been another publicized strategy for example as many people become health sensitive the company has been using sports personality such as the William sisters to show if you eat the burgers and still do the excises you can still remain fit and not be obese or have any sort of healthy disorder.

Another strategy has been to teach their personnel of being courteous and understanding to its customers and also offering them reasonable wages to avoid complains or even strikes which can tarnish the image of the company (Payne 17).

As the company strategize on how to expand more and more globally it is best to note that cultural forces influence markets. For example, in India they have introduced the burgers suitable for the vegetarians and also the chicken burgers for those who do not eat beef burgers.

Conclusion

The firm is among the most performing restaurants in the globe and has really improved the living standards of many. The restaurant has been making huge proceeds from the sale of their products making it a very successful venture. The idea of starting this business was initiated by two brothers (Mac and Dick) in the year 1940.

Initially, they owned a hotdog stand, and later they increased to around 25 items, little did they know that one day what they were making could become one of the leading restaurants in the world touching the lives of both the old and the young everyday (Anon 1).

As the company strives to increase its market shares, it has experienced several changes both positive and negative which have helped it in pursuance of greater achievements throughout the world. What is positive to note is that whenever the company has been faced by any challenge, the situation creates an opportunity to improve and prove to its customers that it can adapt to their needs.

The introduction of the broad market strategy made of the 7Ps has been a success and will continue to be a success as the company strives to provide for its customers. As the market becomes diverse so has consumer tastes and preferences changed and thus the company is aiming at producing what the customers need and this is a positive response from the company.

We can also conclude that the segmentation based on demographic variables with most of the segments targets broken-down into age and lifestyle stage will prove to be a success to the company’s expansion through out the globe.

Works Cited

Anon. History of McDonald’s. Web.

Payne, T. The strategic management process. 2007. Web.

Rangenekar, A. Mc Donalds India launch. 2007. Web.

Smith, N. McDonald’s Targets Emerging Markets with Restaurants in Africa, India. 2010. Web.

Weinheimer, B. McDonald’s Segmentation Shift. 2005. Web.

Yousaf, R. International marketing strategy for a company. Web.