Quick, cheap and impersonal: McDonald’s
The chain of restaurants started in the U.S. more than one half century ago (actually the first McDonald’s was open in 1940. The idea behind it was pretty simple: to feed fast and good as many people as possible. At that time there were just few of these restaurants but now people all around the world know McDonald’s and know where it came from: from the United States. The whole company is therefore often viewed as American but nowadays it has franchises in many states around the world. We can find over 30 thousand restaurants in 118 countries. However, the headquarters of the whole company is still in the U. S., in Illinois.
Also the food and drinks are similar all around the world. The ingredients and the preparation are the same. The main products of McDonald’s are hamburgers – a patty from ground meat inside a bun with some vegetables, cheese and other different ingredients, which differ according to the type of the hamburger. There are actually some controversies about the origin of this dish but it became part of the national cuisine of the United States and then it was exported to other countries.
Another thing that point towards the origin of the food sold in this chain is the way of naming the products. In Czech Republic was not common to use names in foreign language in shops or restaurants. Everything had its name translated to Czech or at least Czech form of the original name. The names like Cheeseburger, Big Mac, McChicken show the origin of the food. Even in some of the few Czech names there is “Mc” part of the name. Actually I think that the products and their names can symbolize the globalization of the world – one product has the same name in the U. S. and here in Czech...
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..., the McDonald’s are still going strong. They didn’t want to lose their customers so they modified their menus. They added vegetables and fruit to the happy meal, introduced fresh salads and healthier drinks; they withdrew the super big portions. We could say that McDonald’s changed the eating habits of people all around the world, but now it looks like the demand is changing little bit and they need to adapt. I think that McDonald’s and other similar restaurant don’t have to be afraid of the lack of customers for many years from now. They will change a little bit according to their customer needs but I think that many people will still eat burgers even though they know it is not the best food for their body. And for those who don’t like the burgers McDonald’s offer other products (fairly new concept of McCafe) so that everyone can find something they will like.
McDonald’s Corporation has held a prominent position in the fast-food market for much of its existence. A person would be hard pressed to find consumers who would not readily recognize the famous golden arches, as the company has expanded its market globally. However, as global consumer tastes shift to a more heath-conscious public which cares less about “super sizing” and more about “slenderizing” the popular burger chain has been experiencing a drop in sales. McDonald’s strategy for its globalization plan has included the concept of localizing their product (to a degree) for an international market; for example, local managers in British versions of the restaurant are able to make their own decisions that pertain to adapting to the current market. A difficult challenge for the corporation’s marketing team is how to reposition this wildly successful brand in a stagnant British market.
From just one restaurant in San Bernadino, California, run by two brothers, McDonald’s has grown to become the best known and most popular fast food restaurant chain in the world.
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)
McDonalds are most heavily located in North America, East Asia and Europe due to the fact that these continents have better economies; therefore they can afford the popular food chain restaurant. On the other hand, Africa and Central Asia do not have nearly as many McDonalds because their economies are weaker than North America, East Asia and Europe. Russia, being the largest country in the world in terms of landmass, only has 94 McDonalds’ while Brazil, which is not nearly the size of Russia, has 584 McDonalds’.
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”)
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).
McDonalds Canada opened in 1967, thirteen years after McDonalds had taken the United States by storm. This was the first restaurant to be opened outside of the United States.
McDonald's Corporation is the largest fast-food operator in the World and was originally formed in 1955 after Ray Kroc pitched the idea of opening up several restaurants based on the original owned by Dick and Mac McDonald. McDonald's went public in 1965 and introduced its flagship product, the Big Mac, in 1968. Today, McDonald's operates more than 30,000 restaurants in over 100 countries and have one of the world's most widely known brand names. McDonald's sales hit $57 billion company-wide and over $25 billion in the United States in 2006 (S&P).
In America, we consider McDonald’s to be a beef serving, sometimes fatty fast food restaurant, but after a 6 year business plan to sway the Indian population, McDonald’s has transformed. If they can continue this growth in India, and all over the world, globalization will start to love McDonald’s even more. They seemed to have hit the right points, from playing it safe, investing their time doing marketing research, to find the best places to put a restaurant and finding out what it is that people in India like to eat. This is what has separated McDonald’s from the rest of the western restaurants which tried to take the easy approach, just jump right into the country blind folded, and hope for the best.
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).
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.
McDonalds also uses diversification in its global marketing. McDonalds recognizes that different countries have different values, customs, and tastes. Therefore, McDonalds satisfies these diverse global tastes by diversifying the menu according to each country’s unique preferences. This added diversification tactic, allows McDonalds to stay competitive in a global market. Examples of McDonalds globally diversified menu would be that McDonalds offers an exclusive beefless menu to its customers who live in India. This is because eating beef in India is sacrilegious. To meet the tastes of customers in India, McDonalds created new offerings such as the “Pizza McPuff” and the “McVeggie.” McDonalds considers the cultural tastes in every country it opens its doors
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.
Focusing on local produce – if McDonalds focuses on local produce, it has been shown that consumers favour this and trust produce from New Zealand, which may lead to an increase in profits.
Overall, McDonalds are able to reach customers all around the globe and they market their products inexpensively. According to Naim (2001, p. 1) it is acknowledged that, “McDonald 's is a global brand, but we run our business in a fundamentally different way that ought to appeal to some critics of globalization. We are a decentralized entrepreneurial network of locally owned stores that is very flexible and adapts very well to local conditions. We offer an opportunity to entrepreneurs to run a local business with local people supplied by a local infrastructure. Each creates a lot of small businesses around