The McDonald’s Empire has several key challenges and opportunities. Originating in the year of 1955, McDonald’s began selling simple burgers and fries. Almost sixty years later, McDonald’s has evolved into a worldwide phenomenon, or a multinational corporation. A company spreading across the world is a challenge in itself, especially when they take a risk to open the chain a communist area. Somehow McDonald’s manages to succeed there. This is one of their major opportunities considering the population in China. Based off of the demographics, McDonald’s should be able to open thousands of stores in China and have them be successful. McDonald’s is trying to add cultural foods to the menu, such as Chinese delicacies.
Currently, McDonald’s is being scrutinized for their foods nutritional value, or lack thereof. The sizes of the food now compared to the sizes in 1955 have multiplied by hundreds. People claim that McDonald’s is to blame for obesity, but McDonald’s is defending their company by saying people have a choice. They even offer healthier alternatives, such as salads and yogurts. Another one of their challenges is the overall appearance of the store. Around 2002, this was a main focus. Stores were dirty, and the food was always cold. They had to come up with a solution for this, which ultimately lead to new policies about the cleanliness and preparing of the foods. Food now is prepared to order versus being prepared ahead of time. Also around 2002, McDonald’s opened up too many stores and therefore lost money since there were too many to handle and manage.
| McDonald's Salads |
McDonald’s recognizes the need to constantly innovate in order to keep customers interested. They recognized a trend of “grazing,” or eating five smaller meals during the day. From this they created the Snack Wrap. The fact that they are constantly innovating provides great opportunity for the company. The head chef and his team are constantly creating new ideas for products. They also always check for quality and consistency via experimental research. By doing this, McDonald’s can eliminate issues in new foods/current foods and make sure that every customer gets the same taste. People want to be familiar with the taste when they go to McDonald’s.
Adding the McCafe was one of the greatest opportunities that McDonald’s has taken advantage of. The McCafe consists of several different coffee drinks, which allegedly gained customers that had been regulars at Starbucks. From plain coffees to specialty coffees, McDonald’s is benefiting greatly from this opportunity.
Reference
Quintanilla, C. (Performer), Griffith, W. (Producer), Waldmen, B. (Producer), Harrington, C. (Producer), & Shah, H. (Producer) (2010). Big mac: Inside the mcdonald's empire [Web series episode]. In Weitzner, M. (Executive Producer), Big mac: Inside the mcdonald's empire. CNBC. Retrieved from http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=1409843942
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ReplyDeleteI like the key facts you have mentioned in your blog post. I also agree with the idea of McDonald's potiential to make huge profits in China. It's the worlds biggest nation, and it sure has to be recognized by such a worldwide known chain that this restaurant is. Communist government however, might be a big challenge down the road, bigger than we think. that government can step is and block some of McDonald's development inside its borders, since it challanges the idea of communism, because the restaurant originated in capitalism, and we might see a sort of clash of systems in there, resulting with someone being the looser. It seems to me like it might be Mcd's because it's a foreign land, and not their own home ground.
ReplyDeleteHowever, like you've mentioned, the opportunities are huge for this company. tHe ever changing taste of the American society, and the adaptations needed present a good way for new ways to make profit. Overall, i think it might just come down to the decisions they make.