Business Environmental Analysis of McDonald’s

 
McDonald’s 1
Business Environmental Analysis of McDonald’s
Introduction
McDonald’s is one of the largest food chain, with its franchises located all over the world.
McDonald’s serve food to more than a 3.5 million customer’s every day. McDonald’s has
established a high profile brand image with its food, modern infrastructure, quality management,
high quality of service, cleanliness, and high level of customer satisfaction. All of these factors
has enabled McDonald’s to achieve a unique position in the market and has given them a
competitive advantage over all of its competitors1
.
McDonald’s began its operation in 1948 in United States, and from the beginning
McDonald’s experienced the taste of success, in the year 1955 McDonald’s was introduced as a
part of the McDonald’s Corporation owned by Ray Kroc. McDonald’s started to expand its
operation in the year 1967, and very soon it emerged as the biggest and reputed fast food chain of
the worldwide. According to the annual report published by McDonald’s Corporation in 2008
McDonald’s is operating in 117 countries with over 32000 branches located in different parts of
the world. McDonald’s opened its first branch in London, United Kingdom in the year 1974.
McDonald’s launched a total of 1200 stores inside the United Kingdom. However, McDonald’s
has faced some strong criticism due to the high turnover rate and the quality of food served.
Sector
The sector in which McDonald’s is operating is the catering industry, their business
consists entirely of restaurants that prepare and serve a limited menu, quickly made and sold at
moderate prices. The McDonald's restaurants worldwide offer prepared foods with the highest
levels of quality and hygiene, from basic natural ingredients such as meat, fish, chicken,
1 Vrontis, D. and Vronti, P. “Levi Strauss. An international marketing investigation’, Journal of Fashion
Marketing and Management; 2004 , Vol. 8, No. 4, pp.389–398.
McDonald’s 2
potatoes, vegetables, dairy products, etc. Their menus meet many of the needs of vitamins,
proteins, minerals, carbohydrates and fats that the body needs to develop daily activity.
McDonald's are available to its customers, in all its restaurants, a poster that includes the
nutritional value of their products so that consumers can select menus that best meet their
nutritional needs and energy intake according to the rule that a balanced diet should be varied
foods that provide the nutrients and energy values each person needs in a period of fifteen days.
McDonald's offer virtually the same menu throughout the world, consisting of burgers
(Big Mac, Quarter Pound, McRoyal Deluxe, McRib), hot sandwiches (McPollo and fried fish
fillet), Chicken McNuggets, fries, salads, beverages, sauces, smoothies, cakes, ice cream,
cookies, fruit salad. They also have a special menu for children (Happy Meal) consisting of a
hamburger, fries, drink and dessert a strawberry Petit Nestle. Some of the activities necessary for
the proper functioning of the company are developed by McDonald's2
.
History of McDonald’s
The first store in the history of fast food service was inaugurated by the McDonald
brothers in 1948 in San Bernardino, California (USA). They gave a new direction to business by
offering fast food at high speed, with modern quality management system. A limited menu and a
high turnover marked the success of the new restaurant. Ray Kroc, then provider shake mixing
machine, surprised by the amount of "Multi-mixers" solicited, visited the McDonald brothers in
1954. They proposed to open more places like this. Therefore, in 1955 the first local Corporation
was opened by Ray Kroc. Between the '50s and' 60s, the visionary Ray Kroc and his
management team established the successful operating philosophy of McDonald's System which
was based on: Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value.
The 60s could simply be termed as the expansion period for the McDonald’s. The first
step came as the inclusion of table service inside the restaurants, and the adoption of what they
2 Vignali, C., Vrontis, D. and Vranecevic, T. Marketing Planning. Analysis, Strategy and Tactics, London:
Foxwell and Davies; 2003.
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are since the basic principles of the company: Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. The
success of McDonald acts as a catalyst in the emergence of a fast food industry, first nationally
and then internationally. Greasy bars and restaurants that populated the country's roads were
replaced by local families belonging to a group of strings. The atmosphere of fast-food in the 60s
attracted the attention of major corporations. Pillsbury acquired Burger King in 1967, General
Foods bought the chain Burger Chef in 1968 and Heublein did the same with Kentucky Fried
Chicken in 19713
.
A unique landmark in the history of McDonald came in 1968 when Jim Delligatti, a
franchisee of Pittsburg, created a burger called Big Mac, which later went on to bec