McDonald’s Company: PR Activities

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Sector in which the Company Operates
The Company’s Organizational Structure
The Company’s Communication Activities
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

In public relations, it is important to be able to conduct an analysis of an organization to uncover its structure and the communication activities it carries out. In this paper, we will provide such an analysis of McDonald’s, one of the most known companies around the world.

The Sector in which the Company Operates

McDonald’s is a global corporation that operates in the restaurant industry, specifically, in the fast food branch. It opens restaurants that sell different types of fast food. The foods sold by the company include hamburgers, French fries, various desserts, beverages, etc.

The Company’s Organizational Structure

The enterprise’s headquarters are located in Illinois, the U.S. (“Contact Us” par. 2). The following features are characteristic of the company’s organizational structure: global hierarchy, performance-based divisions, and function-based groups. Global hierarchy means that the CEO supervises all the areas of the business, and the mandates are passed downwards to regional, local administrators, and concrete restaurant managers. Performance-based division means that the basis for it is not regional; the global structure includes the following divisions: “(a) U.S., (b) International Lead Markets, (c) High Growth Markets, and (d) Foundational Markets and Corporate” (“McDonald’s Organizational Structure Analysis” par. 5).

Function-based groups mean that the company consists of separate departments, each of which deals with its own spectrum of issues. These departments include the departments of “corporate affairs, marketing, human resources, national operations, regional managers, finance, information, and strategic planning” (“What is the Structure of McDonald’s” par. 3). Other departments include “legal, customer services, franchising, security, hygiene and safety, property and construction, supply chain and restaurant services” (“What is the Structure of McDonald’s” par. 4).

It is also worth pointing out that McDonald’s operates as a global franchisor. According to the company’s official website, over 80% of the company’s restaurants around the world and approximately 90% of its locations in the USA are owned and run by independent businesspeople (“Our Business Model” par. 2).

The Company’s Communication Activities

When it comes to communication activities that McDonald’s carries out, it is worth noting that the company regularly runs various advertising campaigns in order to attract new customers and retain the old ones (“How do McDonald’s Communicate” par. 4). The enterprise continually stresses that its food is high-quality.

At a certain point, the business decided to change its external rhetoric and highlight the nutritional value of its foods; McDonald’s even won a number of awards for this PR move (“McDonald’s Sets Up a Nutrition Network” par. 4). Nowadays, the organization provides its customers with information about the nutritional value of the food it offers; this information can be obtained from informational stands inside the restaurants, as well as read on the individual packages of most foods.

It also should be observed that the company attempts to adapt its menu to the local tastes around the world, and uses that as a PR move; for instance, in the United Arab Emirates the restaurants offer foods made from halal meat, and provide respective certificates (“Our Ingredients” par. 1-2).

Certain political issues related to the American roots of the company sometimes arise. For instance, in 2000, citizens of Saudi Arabia started boycotting a number of American companies, including McDonald’s, due to the support that the U.S. offered Israel. McDonald’s responded by a charity campaign in Saudi Arabia; they would donate 26 cents from each meal sold to children’s hospitals in Palestine (“Saudi Burgers to Help Palestinians” par. 2, 5). On the whole, the company appears to adopt an appeasing attitude in such situations.

Conclusion

To sum up, McDonald’s is a global chain of fast food restaurants. Its organizational structure’s main features are the global hierarchy, performance-based divisions, and function-based groups. The company regularly runs advertising campaigns; to attract customers in different countries, it attempts to adapt their menu to the local cultures. The enterprise sometimes suffers due to political issues related to its American roots, and seems to generally adopt a placating attitude in these cases.

Works Cited

Contact Us. n.d.

How do McDonald’s Communicate Internally, Externally and to its Customers? 2011.

McDonald’s Organizational Structure Analysis.

McDonald’s Sets Up a Nutrition Network to Change Public Perception about its Menu. n.d.

Our Business Model. n.d.

Our Ingredients. n.d.

Saudi Burgers to Help Palestinians. 2000.

What is the Structure of McDonald’s and How Each Department in the Organisation Interact? 2011.

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