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The quest for competitive advantage
The quest for competitive advantage
The quest for competitive advantage
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CASE ANALYSIS McDonald’s, Inc. COMPANY NAME: McDonald’s, Inc. INDUSTRY: Food Service COMPANY WEBSITE: www.mcdonalds.com COMPANY BACKGROUND: As a company, McDonald’s was first introduced in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955. This was the very first McDonald’s restaurant, which all started in San Bernardino, California in 1954 when Ray Kroc approached the McDonald brothers with a business proposition to start a new company. In 1965 McDonald’s went public and was later, in 1985 added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (www.mcdonalds.com) The company has gone through quite a few changes with its changing CEO’s over the years, but the company seems to be on track with CEO Jim Skinner, named in 2004. Skinner was named the new CEO just in time to clean up after McDonald’s first ever quarterly loss. He succeeded by showing that McDonald’s revenue had climbed 11% during 2006 and net profits had climbed 36%. (Dess, Case 40 Pg. 1) SWOT ANALYSIS: STRENGTHS: Jim Skinner had to clean up a big mess after the 2003 slump, and did so by coming up with a strategy to turn everything around. His strategy had to consist of staying competitive with the numerous other fast-food restaurants popping up all over the world. In order to maintain this, they had to reorganize the way they presented themselves to the community. Jim Skinner did so by cleaning up the customer service, cleaning up and modernizing the physical buildings, and changing the menu to the changing tastes of their customers. McDonald’s also introduced their slogan “I’m Loving It” to reach out to the younger customers. The advertising is very much targeted toward teens and young adults. (Dess, Case 40) WEAKNESSES: The first weakness was the changing of three different CEOs in only one year. These were unexpected changes, but all had to be dealt with by the newest CEO Jim Skinner, and directly after McDonald’s first ever quarterly loss in 2003. The second weakness is an issue with trying to find new and exciting things to put on the menu to bring in new customers. Many of today’s fast-food customers are making different kinds of foods, like Chinese and Mexican food, normal to the everyday menu. OPPORTUNITIES: McDonalds has many opportunities to change its look, menu, and customer service. McDonald’s started building newer building incorporating the arch, along with more modern furnishings. The menu has changed by adding more breakfast items and introducing the McCafe in certain areas.
Senior Management of PepsiCo is evaluating the potential acquisition of two companies – Carts of Colorado and California Pizza Kitchen – in order to expand the company’s restaurant business. If indeed PepsiCo decides to pursue the acquisition of one or both, they must decide how to align each of these business units in its historically decentralized management approach and how to forge relationships between the acquired business units and existing business units. In their evaluation, Senior Management is faced with the question of whether the necessary capital investment in order to purchase one or both of the businesses can be profitable for each of the acquired business units, but must also take into consideration that the additional business units will not hinder the profitability of the existing business units.
In the movie McDonalds changes the market from lounging teenagers to families. Ray Kroc sees an opportunity to franchise the business, although they had tried franchising before and failed Ray Kroc convinced them to try again and he will be their franchising manager, the McDonalds brothers agreed and entered a contract with him to be their head of franchising, a move that pays off but not for everyone. Although McDonalds have shown that they are able to expand, one of the challenges they face in other countries is that their sales are weak, for example in Japan McDonalds are facing strong competition from Mos Burger. Another challenge McDonalds is facing is replacing humans with machinery.
In 1998, McDonald’s, in order to remain strong, tested the “McDonald’s Big Xtras” or “MBX” which was a potential hit. The “MBX” was a 4.5-ounce burger launched mainly to compete with Burger King’s “Whopper”. It was also reminiscent of the1980s “McDLT”, In ’98; they also brought back the “Filet-O-Fish” which in 1996 had been replaced by “Fish Filet Deluxe”. On a promotion basis, they offered novelty sandwiches, like “Cheddar Melt” and the “McRib”.
Everyone has heard of McDonald’s, but where did this familiar name come from? When people think of American food, it is not uncommon for two golden arches to appear in their minds. This story began with two brothers Dick and Mac McDonald who owned and ran a small restaurant in San Bernardino, California during the 1940s. In 1954 a man named Ray Kroc came across these two brothers while selling multi-mixers and was impressed with the business they were running. The menu was compact, listing options for only a few burgers, fries and beverages, but the restaurant was effective in its operation. Ray Kroc pitched the idea of spreading McDonald’s restaurants across the United States and in 1955 he founded the McDonald’s Corporation. By 1960 he bought the exclusive rights to the name. Kroc was able to expand substantially on this small business so that by 1958 McDonald’s sold its 100 millionth hamburger. (“McDonald’s.com”)
With strength ultimately comes weakness and McDonald's has its fair share, especially in the last few years. Many weaknesses are due to the external environment which includes market saturation, increased price competition, and food and labor costs. These weaknesses affect many firms in the fast food industry so McDonald's is trying to effectively combat these forces using a differentiation strategy. Developing new products such
In Sweden, McDonald's occupies 75 percent of the fast-food hamburger market and generated revenues of approximately $350 million in 1998. The company has three primary business objectives - satisfied employees, satisfied customers, and profits - and understands that by developing and investing in the first, the rest will follow. According to Mats Lederhausen, Managing Director for McDonald's Sweden, "If you take all the resources you have as a company, the only thing that counts today is the human energy that you can pull together and with which you can do anything." As stated in the company's Environment Program, "There is one very simple reason that McDonald's Sweden is concerned with the environment: the future. The future for us as people, and for our company. Everything we eat and everything we make and everything we sell comes directly from our earth.
According to Royle (1999) McDonald’s is a very large multinational enterprise (MNE) and the largest food service operation in the world. Currently the company has 1.5 million workers with 23,500 stores in over 110 countries with the United Kingdom and Germany amongst the corporation’s six biggest markets, and over 12,000 restaurants in the United States. In 1974 the United Kingdom corporation was established and in 1971 the Germany corporation was established, currently the combined corporation has over 900 restaurants and close to 50,000 employees in each of these countries (Royle, 1999).
The main target customer for McDonald's includes parents with young children, young children, business customers, and teenagers. Perhaps the most obvious marketing for McDonald's is its' marketing towards children and the parents of young children. Ronald McDonald was first introduced in 1963 and marked the beginning of their focus on young children as a critical part of their ongoing business. Parents like to visit McDonald's because it is a treat for the kids, and the kids enjoy the cartoon like atmosphere. McDonald's also targets business customers as a part of their core business. Business customers may stop during the workday and can count on fast service, and consistently good food. Another major target of McDonald's marketing is to teens. Teens find the value menu especially appealing and McDonald's markets their restaurants as a cool place to meet with their friends and to work (The Times 100).
For years now Pizza Hut, Inc. has been the leader of the pizza industry. We have been privileged to have had the opportunity to perform research on advancements we can make to maintain this reputation. Based upon our Economic Analysis we have decided to not launch the BIGFOOT pizza. The following gives a detailed analysis, offers alternatives to improving the Pizza Hut experience, and gives reasons why we came to this conclusion.
Strategic management is the way of implementing different business strategies and plans to attain certain specific aims and objectives. It involves collection of decisions and different rules and policies that tend to define the results that are generated in the form of better business performance. For undertaking these activities, management should possess an in depth understanding and be able to assess the general and competitive external and internal business environment to take proper business decisions (Cornelis, 2010). McDonalds is an organization that offers a range of products and services in a very effective manner that makes it a market leader in providing fast food services all over the world. By enforcing suitable strategies, McDonalds can increase its level of sales and will also help in upgrading as well as sustaining the market by acquiring competitive advantage (Schoenberg, Collier and Bowman, 2013).
The McDonald's Corporation is the largest chain of fast food restaurants in the world. It is franchised in over 119 countries and serves an average of 68 million customers daily. The company started in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald in the United States. They reorganized their business as a hamburger stand in 1948. In 1955, Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent. He purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its global-wide growth (McDonald’s 2014).
Have you ever wondered how the business empire of McDonalds was started? With over ninety nine billion served, it was started in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. It was started off as just a Bar-B-Q that served just twenty items. Its first mascot was named “Speedee” They eventually realized that by setting up their kitchen like an assembly line that they could be much more productive and get their food done faster, with every employee doing a specified job; the restaurants production rate became much higher. A milkshake machine vendor came into their small restaurant one day, his name was Ray Kroc. He saw how much potential the restaurant has, so he bought it out and opened one of the first franchises. Within the first year of Ray Kroc buying it, there were one hundred and two locations all around the world. McDonalds currently is one of the largest fast food restaurants in the world and currently has served over sixty four million customers through one of their thirty two thousand sites. It has almost become a way of life for America. Though, McDonalds started off as a small business between two brothers, it grew into one of the largest restaurant franchises in the world and greatly affects our society and how we eat our food.
In today’s market, McDonalds faces numerous challenges such as fierce competition, a more health conscious customer, and the continual need for improved customer satisfaction and menu. McDonalds needs to go through some changes in order to remain ahead in the fast-food industry.
Advertising is mainly targeted at children – children may be a large part of McDonalds’ target market, but the advertisements of the past have solely been targeting children. This is not an effective strategy, as the rest of the target market has not been targeted. Multiple ads that target all groups would solve this
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield founded Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream in 1978. Over the years, Ben & Jerry's evolved into a socially-oriented, independent-minded industry leader in the super-premium ice cream market. The company has had a history of donating 7.5% of its pre-tax earnings to societal and community causes. Ben and Jerry further extended their generosity by offering 75,000 shares at $10.50 per share exclusively to Vermont residents, so that they may help those who first supported the company; Ben and Jerry's wanted residents to profit from their venture as well. In addition, steady growth and a widely recognized brand name helped Ben and Jerry's obtain 45 percent of the premium ice-cream market, yet the company stock price remained stagnant at $21 a share for several years.