McDonalds Entering the Hotel Market External Environment The external environment of the hotel industry in is very competitive and already well established. Trends in the market include promotional campaigns to customers using the "more bang for your buck," method. There are several different segments of the hotel industry including: luxury, upscale, mid-market with food and beverage, mid-market without food and beverage, economy, and budget. Each different segment offers certain amenities to appeal to consumers depending on what they are looking for in an over night stay away from home. As McDonald's looks at entering the hotel industry they have looked at several important issues dealing with an entry into this market. McDonald's would like to enter the market in the state of Illinois where the company's headquarters is. Illinois leads all other states in money spent on tourism totaling $61.1 million in the year 2000. Illinois also ranked fourth in the nation for leisure person trips in 2000. Hotel industry has several important barriers to entry including cost of entry, ability to differentiate from other hotels, and competition in every hotel segment. Internal Environment McDonald's was started in 1955 by Ray Kroc and has grown to more than 30,000 restaurants in 121 countries. McDonald's also had $10.1 billion in system-wide sales and $271.9 million in corporate profits on revenues of $3.7 billion in the year 2001. McDonald's strengths are that is ranked as the ninth most valuable brand name in the world, it has experienced management, site development expertise, advanced operational systems, and unique global infrastructure. They want to use these strengths to break into the hotel industry. McDonald's weaknesses are inexperience in the hotel industry and the fact that it has no clear idea which hotel segment they want to move into or how to differentiate themselves from other hotel chains already in the segment. Customer Environment McDonald's current customer environment is people on the go or people who don't want to spend a lot while going out and need something quick and good to eat. It is best stated in McDonald's mission statement that they want to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. As stated before, McDonald's has restaurants in 121 countries and has extensive global experience in customer service and satisfaction. McDonald's is excellent at researching an international area before building restaurant there. For example, in India McDonald's realized that the majority of the population was Hindu and vegetarian, they therefore, did not even bother to put beef or any other red meat on the menu.
The first McDonald’s opened in 1948. The franchising operations soon became McDonald’s Corporation in 1955.
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)
Our research indicated more viable strengths than weaknesses. Strengths such as brand recognition, steady growth in global markets, and strong leadership. McDonald's has become part of America's culture and now the same can be said for the global arena based on the demonstration of growth and continued dominance over competitors. Business Week Magazine even ranked McDonald's as "one of the ten most recognized brands in the world", a position that creates significant opportunities for the company. An important strength that continues to have the most dramatic impact on McDonalds is their top level management. Even though this is classified an as internal strength, McDonald's has capitalized on a management style that helps to infuse a strong culture. A dynamic aspect of the McDonald's culture is the willingness to innovate and adapt, thus making necessary changes when the need arises.
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).
Since then it has been important for McDonalds to continually monitor its performance, to make sure it is competitive and profitable while also being aware of its immediate community responsibilities. This can be achieved by using the Porters 5 Forces model so the company is able to determine where its business needs to change or improve in order to stay competitive in the fast food industry.
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).
The hotel industry performs within a saturated market, driven by customer loyalty and competitive pricing to stand-out. This competitive nature makes it extremely important to capitalise on strengths while improving on
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.
McDonald’s has proven over time that the business practices they utilize work well and have led them to obtaining the title of the largest food retailer in the world. The founder of the company made a tactical decision in franchising the idea of providing fast food at a cheap price. Today, fast food has become a staple of not only American life but a viable food option all over the world. For McDonald’s a critical factor in them reaching the level of growth they currently experience has been franchising. It can be assured that McDonald’s will continue to grow through the usage of the franchising techniques as new food markets continue to develop all over the world.
“Everyone come down to McDonald’s today! All McDonald’s in the United States are celebrating their 60th anniversary. Hamburgers are selling for only 60 cents!” Micah Banks from 104.3 radio station announces. “OO! OO!” my baby sister shouts, “Mommy can we go?” Of course, my mom agrees. She always agrees. We take a trip there at least twice a week since it’s near our house. There’s at least one franchise at every block in every city. Everywhere I go, I see something relating to McDonald’s, whether if it’s someone holding a container of McDonalds’ famous, crispy, salty French fries or finding a McDonald’s ad in the newspaper. It is said that McDonald’s is the most popular fast food restaurant in the U.S. and is one of the world’s largest 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
McDonalds provide high quality products, such as burgers, fries, drinks, muffins, etc, which are safe and reliable that it does what it is supposed to do, but not only does the quality of the products matter, the good value for money affects the business. E.g. buy one extra value meal and get one free with a food voucher that represents the offer only. They ensure that a high standard of the product is carried out at all times and they try to compete very competitively with other fast food businesses with their good value for money. Also a customer would know if the product is good value for money by checking in another food outlet like KFC for their services and products.
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.
These are opportunities because they are all options McDonalds can take advantage of in order to expand their company. By doing these, McDonalds will bring in more customers as these changes will attract consumers that are looking for a fast food restaurant that possess these