IndexBackgroundMission and VisionCore CompetenciesPurpose and ObjectivesSWOT AnalysisWeaknessesOpportunitiesThreatsPESTEL AnalysisLegal FormPatents, Trademarks and DesignRegulatory FrameworkRisks and ContingenciesBackground McDonald's is considered one of the world's leading companies in the fast food industry . This company was invented in 1940 by two brothers known as Maurice (“Mac”) and Richard McDonald. The first McDonald's was founded as a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, United States. Years later, Ray Kroc, who was the exclusive distributor of the Multimixer (a milkshake mixing machine) for the McDonald brothers, decided to purchase McDonald's. Ray Kroc visited them in San Bernardino and the seller quickly became the buyer after seeing the business's potential. Kroc purchased the franchise rights to the brothers' restaurants across the country and in 1955 opened his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois. The restaurant has since developed well and is able to set up its own company. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Mission and Vision A company's corporate mission statement states the company's purpose and related activities. In this case, McDonald's mission statement envisioned the company as an influential fast food chain favored by most people. McDonald's corporate mission is "to be our customers' favorite place and way to eat and drink." This mission statement highlights the great influence the company has on customers' purchasing behavior, without forgetting the importance of customers as the focus of the company. On the other hand, a company's corporate vision statement indicates the company's long-term goals. McDonald's corporate vision is to "move with speed to drive profitable growth and become an even better McDonald's, serving delicious food to more customers around the world every day." This statement simply means that McDonald's goal is to expand the business in terms of a larger geographical area. With this McDonald's expects an improvement in operational efficiency which can lead to a higher profit margin and an overall improvement in all business areas. Core Competencies McDonald's core competency is providing convenience when people need and want to eat fast food at competitive prices and providing the customer's best value for money. One of McDonald's competitive advantages is its emphasis on consistent quality, food production, and use of raw materials throughout the world. McDonald's strives to gain a comparative advantage by offering its products at a price that cannot be matched by rivals. Another important competitive advantage of McDonald's is fast food delivery. To maintain this advantage over other fast food chains, they must make the food cooking processes simple for all employees. Purpose and Objectives The main objective and mission of McDonald's is to be the world's leading consumer products organization focusing primarily on convenient fast food. McDonald's strives for honesty, fairness and integrity as a work ethic. As such, McDonald's must strive to continually improve all aspects of the business, including internal and external. Their main focus now is to emphasize corporate social responsibility, giving back to society in every way possible and actively participating in environmental management to prove that McDonald's is asustainable. McDonald's presents a long-term growth plan that will focus on convenience and technology as it tries to win customers from competing quick-service restaurants. From this statement we know that the brand's main focus now is to work on the concept of “Experience of the Future” by introducing more modern and exciting technological advancements such as the ordering kiosk. “Through advanced technology to elevate and modernize the customer experience, focusing on the quality and value of our food, and redefining convenience through delivery, we have a bold vision for the future and the urgency to act on it,” he says Easterbrook. “We are moving quickly to drive profitable growth and become an even better McDonald's, serving more delicious food to our customers around the world every day.” Market AnalysisSWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis of McDonald's explains how McDonald's uses all its internal and external factors to stay ahead in the fast food industry. In this analysis, identify all the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that most impact the company. Highlights Second largest restaurant network serving customers in over 120 countries. As of 2018, McDonald's is the second largest restaurant network in the world. This indicates that McDonald's plays a dominant role in the international market. The vastness of the company network is a strength that offers many advantages over the competition, including: 2) Huge profits resulting from the implementation of best practices. The company can gain experience from all operations and identify the best way to perform certain tasks or resolve conflicts. They might also learn guidelines for running a business when dealing with a different culture and environment. Weaknesses Negative publicity McDonald's has received criticism and negative rumors on the issue of offering unhealthy food leading to obesity, especially when McDonald's target market is children. Although McDonald's has tried to solve this problem by introducing healthier choices, the menu still primarily offers high-calorie burgers and fried chicken. This resulted in protest from anti-obesity organizations and thus negatively affected McDonald's brand reputation. Opportunities Focus on an image makeover McDonald's has come up with solutions by trying to rebuild its reputation by designing a socially conscious healthy store. This means McDonald's is rolling out more and more healthy choices on the menu to promote low-calorie intake. McDonald's has also actively engaged in environmental activities to raise awareness about environmental issues. Threats Trend towards healthy eating As government and non-government organizations have encouraged people to eat clean and fight obesity, people are more aware of consuming healthy food rather than what McDonald's has on its menu. PESTEL Analysis Politics McDonald's employees have been sent for mandatory training and are also getting promotions without receiving any partial treatment. It's all about skill and performance. Furthermore, McDonald's is also very resistant to sexual and racial harassment in the workplace. All employees were expected to strictly obey all policies set by McDonald's Environmental McDonald's is working on environmental issues by analyzing the impact they have on the environment. McDonald's has decided to reduce its waste by 50% and will only work with suppliers who also practice eco-friendly practices. For this reason, McDonald's has appointed a manager responsible for the issuesenvironmental. McDonald's is now replacing all packaging material with recyclable materials in every way possible. This shows that McDonald's is focusing on sustainability and is trying to achieve greater long-term sustainability. Socio-cultural McDonald's enforces a close relationship with suppliers to ensure that the resources provided are safe and clean. In addition to this, McDonald's has also decided to display all the nutritional and ingredient information on the packaging based on customer preferences. Therefore, companies must take customers' preferences into consideration to survive in the aggressive competition. Therefore McDonald's has to design its menu according to the customers. TechnologicalTechnology has played a really important role in the fast food industry. Therefore, McDonald's has invested in technology to develop a more convenient way for customers to order. For example, McDonald's introduced its own delivery app and with just a few clicks customers can get their food delivered to their home without even going out and waiting in long queues. Economic Economic factors have a strong impact on a company's performance in terms of profitability. Recently the world economy has always been in a state of recession which results in an increase in the unemployment rate and a decline in consumer spending. With low purchasing power people tend to spend less and therefore businesses will suffer from low profitability. McDonald's then found itself in recession in 2012 when there was a huge drop in sales. However, McDonald's is now ranked 7th among the 100 most valuable US brands. Legal The legal system requires that any organization in the food and drink sector must not use materials that are harmful and dangerous to nature. In the case of McDonald's, they carefully select their supplier by carrying out inspection checks to ensure that the incoming resources come directly from the farm. Global Environment and CultureMcDonald's was founded in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. McDonald's Corporation is an international fast-food chain established on December 21, 1964, with its new headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. This global restaurant now operates and franchises in approximately 117 countries around the world. Approximately 1.9 million employees work for the company across its various restaurants and serve 70 million customers per day. McDonald's, as a globalized brand, has decided to use strategic marketing tactics such as target segmentation, positioning and target marketing. McDonald's changes strategies and implements them differently depending on the cultures of the particular geographic area. For example, comparing strategies for the American, Japanese and Chinese markets, it is clear that McDonald's is able to adapt its menu and business plans to each culture. Demonstrate that they respect the differences between cultures and adhere to the country's policy when developing additional items for their menu. McDonald's has gained enormous benefits from globalization and this is thanks to the two different marketing plans implemented in the company: 1. Standardization Strategy Despite having affiliates all over the world, McDonald's remains its iconic menu item. Items such as McChicken, McNuggets and Filet-O-Fish are available in all McDonald's stores. As a result, it helps to create a strong brand image for McDonald's and is also cost effective and time efficient. 2. Adaptation Strategy McDonald's has implemented this strategy effectively as it adapts to different cultures and environments around the world. McDonald's listens to the needs of its customers and introduces various types of specialized itemsthat particular geographic area. This helps McDonald's to build customer loyalty and also improve brand acceptance across the world. MarketingThe marketing tactics used by McDonald's have shown significant growth since its inception in 1940. Throughout these years McDonald's main business strategy has always been to invest in advertising. Ray Kroc, former CEO of McDonald's, appreciates advertising and marketing. As he once said, he believed that advertising was an investment that, in the end, would return many times over, and advertising has always played a key role in the development of McDonald's Corporation. The McDonald's brothers realized the importance of an eye-catching building that could increase brand awareness. So they redesigned the shops with two golden yellow arches, indicating the alphabet “M”, which we still see today. The McDonald's mascot, Ronald McDonald's, was introduced in 1967 by one of the franchise owners. He realized that with the help of the clown it is easier to attract children. This is evidenced by the fact that Ronald McDonald was more familiar to 96% of American children than their president's name. McDonald's uses the four Ps of price marketing: McDonald's uses their pricing strategy effectively as they mark items at an affordable price that is neither too cheap nor too expensive. It also offers after-hours promotions to encourage people to buy McDonald's after work. Product: McDonald's focuses on its products and consumer demands and offers certain items in a certain period of time, for example, McDonald's launches the Prosperity Burger during every Chinese New Year. . As such, they emphasize evaluating customer preferences and introducing new products to satisfy them. Promotion: In 1976, McDonald's signed up as an official sponsor for globally recognized events such as the Olympics. This helps create a strong brand image and at the same time increase brand awareness. Therefore, McDonald's also uses public relations by constantly organizing new events and promoting new products to stay in the market. Place: McDonald's intends to create an atmosphere desired by its customers. Therefore McDonald's built a playground and offers toys for happy hour because children would love to visit a fun place. While a businessman decides to eat at McDonald's because the whole process from ordering to receiving food is short and simple, which can be considered time efficient for them. Teenagers are attracted to the dishes offered on the menu because they mainly match their preferences and what's more, McDonald's offers free Wi-Fi service. Organization Overview McDonald's leadership team is led by the President and CEO, assisted by seven executive vice presidents and one senior vice president, each of whom oversees a specific aspect of the company. Steve Eastbrook has served as President and CEO since early 2015. Eastbrook introduced substantial changes to McDonald's organizational structure on July 1, 2015 to improve the efficiency of global operations. The following figure illustrates the organizational structure of McDonald's and the distribution of management roles within the company: McDonald's Corporation has a divisional organizational structure. McDonald's organizational structure has the following characteristics, organized by importance in influencing food service business operations: Global Hierarchy McDonald's has a global hierarchy that it involves in all of its operations around the world. This type of hierarchical structure emphasizes corporate control in terms of.