...| McDonald’s: Polishing the Golden Arches Case Analysis by Amber Zirnhelt © 2006 Amber ZirnheltOriginally Submitted for Management 680: Corporate Strategic Planning and Policy Professor Frank ShipperPOLICY AND FUNCTIONAL STRATEGIES McDonald’s has been an industry leader within the fast food industry for years. In the introductory phase of their business operations they focused on following a generic low cost strategy consisting of offering consumers low priced food products in order to, “make eating out on a regular basis affordable for families…” (Marino 627). Faced with changing consumer trends and competitors pursuing aggressive competitive strategies focused on product differentiation and quality; McDonald’s then CEO, Jim Cantalupo, determined in order to address the companies recent profit losses and challenges a different stand on generic strategy must be taken. Through the implementation of McDonald’s Plan to Win strategy, Cantalupo shifted the company’s generic strategy to differentiation by focusing on marketing to turnaround the negative publicity recently experienced through offering customers a better overall fast food experience as compared to their competitors. McDonald’s financial strategy focused on decreasing capital expenditures by 40% while using their cash from 2003 operations to pay off debt and return cash to stockholders. These financial strategies have allowed the company to implement the Plan to Win strategy while also improving...
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...McDonald’s (in 2013): How to Win Again By MGT 4800: Strategic Management March 27, 2016 Table of Contents Analysis: Focus on External and/or Internal Environments 3 External Environment Trends 3 Position in Relation to Competition 3 Formulation: Focus on Business, Corporate, and/or Global Strategy 4 Business Level Strategy 4 International Strategy 5 Implementation: Focus on Recommendations and How to Execute Them 5 Organizational Structure 5 What Role Does Thompson Need to Play? 6 References 7 Analysis: Focus on External and/or Internal Environments External Environment Trends There are several trends that could have a negative impact on the ability that McDonald’s has to sustain their competitive advantage. The first is that consumer spending habits have changed due to the economic recession. People have less discretionary funds, which inevitably leads to more careful consideration of what they buy. In addition, people are eating out less due to the 8% unemployment rate as well as the 15% underemployed rate (Rothaermel, 2015, p. 534). The second trend is rising health concerns. With consumer preferences switching from beef over to other lean meats, the gluten-free movement, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which stipulates that all nutritional information must be displayed on the food menus; it is difficult for a fast food restaurant to continue to grow without making changes (Rothaermel, 2015, p. 534). Finally, the increasing supply...
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...QUESTIONS FOR CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT STRATEGIC EXCELLENCE Licensed for use by the students of the Executive MBA Program, The Icfai University. Not to be reproduced. QUESTIONS FOR CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT STRATEGIC EXCELLENCE ANSWER THE QUESTIONS FOR ANY TEN CASE STUDIES Questions for 18 case studies are given below. Each case study assignment has 2 questions. Students are required to answer questions for any 10 case studies (20 answers). Students are advised to submit answers for all 10 cases in one go, for results to be adjudged in one instance. 01. McDonald’s in the United Kingdom a. When McDonald’s entered the UK market in 1974, it initially failed to attract British customers and reported losses. However, as of 2009, the UK was one of the most promising markets for McDonald’s. Many factors were responsible for this change in situation. First, identify the subset of factors that could be attributed to the organization’s strategies. Next, tabulate that subset of factors along with the associated strategies for each factor. Finally, classify these strategies into originally intended and subsequently emergent strategies. b. As of 2009, McDonald’s faced many challenges in the UK. In your opinion, what strategies should McDonald’s adopt at the corporate, business, and functional levels to continue its growth trend in the UK? Give reasons for your answer. 02. Emerging Markets Strategy: Nokia Life Tools for Rural Markets a. Business strategy is often compared...
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...Teaching Note: Case 14 – McDonald’s Case Objectives 1. To investigate the key external environmental issues that can affect a firm’s strategy. 2. To examine how a reevaluation of strategy involves assessment of internal activities and resources. 3. To discuss the decisions and actions that a firm has to undertake to sustain a competitive advantage, especially when pursuing growth. See the table below to determine where to use this case: |Chapter Use |Key Concepts |Additional Readings or Exercises | |1: Strategy Concept |Strategic management; vision, mission, strategic |Visit McDonald’s website to evaluate its mission.| | |objectives |See an embedded video of a 1967 McDonald’s TV | | | |commercial. | |2: External Environment |External environmental forces; Porter’s five forces |Visit investor commentary on MCD, view embedded | | |model |video about current coffee strategy; read about | | | |healthy foods controversy, watch video re | | | ...
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...McDonalds Case Analysis Chandra Stevens Manda Roth Erica Jones Kaitlin Vincent Carole Hockeborn Ferris State University Table of Contents Abstract 4 Introduction 5 Situational Analysis 7 Demographics 7 Socio-Cultural 7 Political-Legal 8 Technology/Industrial 8 Economic 9 Global 9 S.W.O.T. Analysis 10 Strengths 11 Weaknesses 12 Opportunities 12 Threats 14 T.O.W.S. Analysis 15 External Strengths/Internal Opportunities 16 External Weaknesses/Internal Opportunities 16 External Strengths/Internal Threats 16 External Weaknesses/Internal Threats 16 Porter’s Five Forces 17 Threat of New Entrants 18 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 18 Bargaining Power of Buyers 19 Rivalry Amongst Existing Firms 19 Threat of Substitute Products or Services 19 Financial Ratios 20 Liquidity Ratio: Cash Ratio 21 Debt Management Ratio: Total debt Ratio 22 Profitability Ratio: Profit Margin 22 Balanced Scorecard 23 Balanced Scorecard Diagram 27 Strategy Formulation 28 Plan of Action and Recommendation 31 Highlights From This Year 31 Budget and Time Line Expectations Summary 31 Citations 33 Abstract This report reviews the McDonald’s corporation profile to include; an introduction to corporate history a time menu and current franchise information. The strategic Profile will provide a complete analysis of economic, socio-cultural, technology and global synopsis...
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...Introduction One of the largest and most popular fast food restaurant in the world, McDonald’s, has stores located all over the world that are found in 118 countries and operate over 35,000 restaurants worldwide. It is compressed of both company-owned and franchised restaurants that all operate maintaining a tight grasp on operations, cost, quality and control. The relationship between McDonald’s and its independent franchises is of fundamental importance to overall performance and to the McDonald’s brand. Being this large of a company, every decision that it makes is crucial for the survival of the company and any wrong moves can make a huge impact on them on a much larger scale. The company is always undergoing changes and every decision that McDonald’s makes needs to be greatly evaluated to make sure it doesn’t lead them towards failure. There’s a lot of competition in the fast food industry and competitors are always competing against each other when it comes to price, quality, advertising, deals, new items and more. There’s a lot of opportunity that has been made and still to be made in the fast food industry and all falls back on the decisions that these companies make and in this paper we will be conducting multiple strategical analysis on McDonald’s and evaluating it. One of the most challenging things looking at the fast food industry is that it is not an attractive market for new entrants, competing against the costs of existing companies is very difficult but they...
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...McDonald’s and Leadership. McDonald’s is a well-known company that many people have frequented at least once in their lifetime. McDonald’s, like many other companies, started with a dream and a vision. Back in the 30’s when the McDonald brothers started selling hot dogs; little did they know that they would have a profound effect on what would become the fast food industry and American culture (How McDonald's Works, 2012). In 1948, the McDonald brothers reinvented their business, their products and their processes and it paid off. They expanded their business and became a franchise, and it was during this expansion that they would encounter the man who in 1961 bought the whole business, and who takes credit for the McDonald’s corporation, Ray Kroc (How McDonald's Works, 2012). It has been Kroc’s determination, vision and goal to advance McDonald’s into the fast food giant that it is today. As one can see, McDonald’s is an ever changing and evolving organization. This research paper highlights four areas of McDonald’s management; planning, organizing, leadership and control. Planning: McDonald’s Corporation has a “Customer-Focused Plan to Win” plan (Strategic Direction, Company Profile). The plan is more of a guide for operating that is adaptable to change. It involves Five Elements (the 5 P’s): People, Products, Place, Price, and Promotion; along with being financially responsible. They continue to train all employees at all levels to keep them updated on...
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...Kiara Gitlin MGMT 3800 Business Policy and Strategy Lowell Miller April 14, 2016 Kiara Gitlin Strategic Case Strategic Case I. Core Problem/Issue McDonald’s current challenges consist of many things including their menu, product quality, appealing to millennials, and labor concerns. The new president and CEO, Steve Easterbrook, came at a time when the corporate giant was on its knees in desperate need of way to get back up. One of bigger issues is product quality because it relates to getting the younger customer as well as how the company is perceived worldwide. McDonald’s is one the top 10 biggest brands according to Forbes and Easterbrook desperately wanted to improve public perceptions of the McDonald’s brand. McDonald’s wants to position themselves as a modern, progressive “healthy” burger company in a highly competitive market. Their size made them a convenient target, and more than a decade of negative press including the 2001 book “Fast Food Nation,” the 2004 documentary “Supersize Me,” and Jamie Kennedy’s 2012 “pink slime” exposé had taken its toll. In July 2014, the Big Mac earned the dubious distinction of being America’s worst hamburger, placing last out of 21 in a study by Consumer Reports. McDonald’s also ranked lowest among peers in the 2015 American Customer Satisfaction Index. Fast food restaurants overall dropped 3.8 percent, but McDonald’s fell by 6 percent from 2014, holding firm in the last spot. As the baby boomers get older, the millennials...
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...Executive Summary This report contains the strategic audit of McDonald’s. The instruments use the external and internal aspects to analysis the opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses (SWOT analysis and SWOT matrix). Analysis of the company's position has been undertaken different technology models have also been applied in to undertake the analysis of the technology practices in the company. In the end suggestions and recommendations are presented in to improve the competitive position of the company. The analysis of external environment includes three threats and three opportunities. The opportunities included global expansion, the trend of healthier eating, and the growing market for coffee drinks. The three threats came from social activists, the large amount of competition, and the unhealthy food image in the eyes of the public. The analysis of internal environment includes three strengths, which are which are global expansion, specializing training and efficiency of the top management; two weaknesses which are exploited workers and damaging the environment. McDonald’s corporation had four strategies include expand the coffee market domestically, as well as internationally; develop more eco-friendly methods of operating; develop a method to choose where to locate new stores; expand the healthier food options on their menu. Introduction McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers...
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...MARKETING CRM Done Right by Darrell Rigby and Dianne Ledingham FROM THE NOVEMBER 2004 ISSUE T hrough the late 1990s and into 2000, managers plowed millions of dollars into information systems meant to track and strengthen customer relationships. Often built around complex software packages, these customer relationship management (CRM) systems promised to allow companies to respond efficiently, and at times instantly, to shifting customer desires, thereby bolstering revenues and retention while reducing marketing costs. But most firms failed to reap the expected benefits, and as executives dramatically reduced IT expenses in subsequent years, CRM sales plummeted. After rising 28% between 1999 and 2000, CRM sales dropped by 5% in 2001, 25% in 2002, and 17% in 2003, according to the technology market research firm Gartner. Many observers came to believe that CRM was destined to join enterprise resource planning (ERP) as another overhyped IT investment whose initial unmet promise nearly killed off the approach. But something unexpected has happened: Senior executives have become considerably more enthusiastic about CRM. In 2003, Bain & Company’s annual Management Tools Survey of 708 global executives found that firms actually began to report increased satisfaction with their CRM investments. In 2001, CRM had ranked near the bottom of a list of 25 possible tools global executives would choose. Two years later, it had moved into the top half. In fact, 82% of surveyed executives...
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...for BUSN601: Global Management Perspective. The topics for this course included: * developing Porter’s Five-Forces Model in a global strategy; * assessment and integration of business functions in an organization; * formulation of essential components of the strategic management process; * assessment of target markets and forecasting of the components of the marketing mix; * assessment of the importance of market research in developing a global initiative * Integrate e-business applications into your overall global initiative. * Appraise how employment law constrains choices for the organization * Relate how regulatory law affects an organization's decisions * Identify and incorporate the key elements of contracts. * Assess the influence of different cultural perspectives on global business operations. * Argue the influence of regional trading organizations on business opportunities and constraints In the following I discuss in summary perspective the key takeaways from this course as well as learning objectives I did not meet. Integrate Porter's Five-Forces Model into developing a solid global strategy. Porter’s five forces model of competitive analysis allows business managers to better understand where they are strong and how they can improve weaknesses before changing market positions. The model can also be a useful tool for firms moving to compete internationally because it provides a uniform framework for evaluating...
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...Jollibee Foods Corp.: International Expansion Executive Summary Jollibee was a company originally established by the Tan family in 1975 as a family-owned ice cream parlor in the Philippines, but was soon forced to change its market caused by the oil crisis of 1977 - a factor which would have inherently caused the price of ice cream to double. Already established in the food industry and having overcome the initial barriers faced by those entering it, the Tan family successfully diversified the company to selling sandwiches. From that point, Jollibee began expanding their success by launching a total of five stores by 1978, founding what we see today as Jollibee Foods Corp. 1. How was Jollibee able to build its dominant position in fast food in the Philippines? What are the sources of competitive advantage was it able to develop against McDonalds in its home market? There were several contributing factors in Jollibee’s rise to a dominant position in the Philippines fast food market. Because they were already doing business in the food industry, the entry barrier was low in making the shift to fast food. Additionally, the recipe was developed locally using culturally desirable ingredients destined to satisfy the taste buds of the patronage. The brand was quickly developed using the “Five F’s” that were Jollibee’s business philosophy: Flavorful Food, Fun, Flexibility, and Families. Jollibee’s ability to offer all of these benefits at an affordable price led the company...
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...Jollibee Foods Corp.: International Expansion Executive Summary Jollibee was a company originally established by the Tan family in 1975 as a family-owned ice cream parlor in the Philippines, but was soon forced to change its market caused by the oil crisis of 1977 - a factor which would have inherently caused the price of ice cream to double. Already established in the food industry and having overcome the initial barriers faced by those entering it, the Tan family successfully diversified the company to selling sandwiches. From that point, Jollibee began expanding their success by launching a total of five stores by 1978, founding what we see today as Jollibee Foods Corp. 1. How was Jollibee able to build its dominant position in fast food in the Philippines? What are the sources of competitive advantage was it able to develop against McDonalds in its home market? There were several contributing factors in Jollibee’s rise to a dominant position in the Philippines fast food market. Because they were already doing business in the food industry, the entry barrier was low in making the shift to fast food. Additionally, the recipe was developed locally using culturally desirable ingredients destined to satisfy the taste buds of the patronage. The brand was quickly developed using the “Five F’s” that were Jollibee’s business philosophy: Flavorful Food, Fun, Flexibility, and Families. Jollibee’s ability to offer all of these benefits at an affordable price led the company...
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...External Analysis of Starbucks 1 RUNNING HEAD: STARBUCKS External Environmental Analysis of Starbucks and the Coffee Industry Harold Brown Strategic Management MGMT 4340 Dr. Nwabueze March 3, 2011 External Analysis of Starbucks 2 Contents 1.0.0. Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 5 2.0.0. Company History ................................................................................................................................ 8 2.1.0. Background ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Table 1: Starbucks Revenue Trends 2005-2010 ..................................................................................... 12 2.2.0. Purpose of This Study ....................................................................................................................... 14 3.0.0. External Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 15 Diagram 1: The Components of a Coffee Firm’s Macroenvironment .................................................... 16 3.1.0. General Environmental Analysis ...................................................................................................... 16 3.1.1. Demographic Segment ...................................................................
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...Starbucks and the Lifecycle of Specialty Coffee: An Industry Evolving Introduction Today we stand witness to a new coffee era, one made up of Caffé Lattes, Espresso Macchiatos, Cappuccinos and Frappuccinos. Specialty Coffee is here to stay and no one will be more eager to tell you that than Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, the world’s largest specialty coffee bar. The study of Starbucks Corporation leads one on a multifaceted journey through an organization’s insinuation into a culture, its dominance of a market and its creation of a brand synonymous with loyalty, integrity and longevity. Understanding Starbucks’ development into an international giant and the strategic approach they took to get there begins with the origins of coffee itself. Ever since it first spread through the Moslem world in the sixteenth century, coffee has played a pivotal role in society by providing meeting places for intellectuals from all sides of life to converge. As coffee was slowly introduced to the European world it was recognized for both its sociability and its taste. Soon Coffee houses were prevalent throughout Europe and were the natural locations for political, literary and societal debate. It crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the mid-seventeenth century and replaced beer as New York City’s favorite morning drink. It can be said that the Boston Tea Party was the beginning of not one but two major revolutions in America. The first was the revolt of the colonists against England...
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