Capstone

CAPSTONE PROJECT: MCDONALD’S
Student Name
University
Abstract
McDonalds Corporation is one of the world’s biggest fast food restaurants with a chain of stores. It has over 34,000 local restaurants serving more than 60 million customers. It began as a hamburger stand and later on it incorporated more foods into the menu as it grew bigger and better. Its food outlets are operated either by the company itself or by franchisees. The company primarily sells hamburgers, desserts, milkshakes, French fries, chicken, soft drinks and breakfast items. There are other foods that are added on the menu depending the customer demand and the area where the store is located such as salads, fish and smoothies CITATION Jou15 l 1033 (Journal, 2015).
The company’s mission
The company’s mission is to become their customer’s favorite way and place to drink and eat. This mission puts a lot of emphasis on winning over customer and making them loyal to their food chains. The corporation has a global strategy that aligns all its food chains called plan to win which capitalizes on remarkable customer experience. They are also committed to nonstop improved services and customer experience. Such a mission when put into action will undoubtedly win the customer’s heart. Customer loyalty is the foundation of a business success and it enables the company to win other customers through positive reviews and recommendations.
The company’s vision
It focuses on being the best quick service restaurant in the world providing exceptional quality service, ensuring cleanliness so that at the end of the day every customer leaves the restaurant with a smile.

Customer satisfaction is key in order for a business to succeed. This company has placed customer satisfaction on the forefront of its objectives thus setting itself on the right path for growth. When a customer is satisfied they will keep coming back to get the same quality service hence they are able to attain their loyalty.
Impact of primary stakeholders on success of the company
Customers are one of the most important stakeholders of a company. In this instance they are interested in the range of products offered by McDonalds hence they keep coming back because they receive quality goods and services contributing to the success of the business.
Other stakeholders are the company managers. They are interested in the success of the business by ensuring that customers are continuously satisfied by quality goods and services offered to them so that they can also earn higher bonuses themselves. This further contributes to the success of the company CITATION Jou15 l 1033 (Journal, 2015).
Five forces of competition and how they influence the company
One important force is the threat of new entrants. There are many companies that were established and are still being formed as a result of the high profits that McDonalds makes. However the company has been able to overcome this obstacle through providing customers with excellent services and products in order to sustain customer loyalty hence making an entry barrier for new competitors.
Bargaining power of customers has impacted much on the company. The company has put different menus depending on the geographical location of the restaurant and customer preferences in that specific area. This helps to ensure that the foods offered match the demands and general consumer trends thus enhancing the company’s profits.
The threat of substitute products is an important force. The cutting edge difference between McDonalds and other fast-food companies is that they offer fast and quality services. They also make the buyer easy to buy from the kind of menu that they provide hence they attract more customers further enlarging the company profits.
There exists a fierce rivalry between McDonalds and other long existing companies in the industry. Despite this, McDonalds has emerged the top with many chain stores and restaurants around the globe. This owes to the point that they do regular advertising on the mass media and piggy backing on the power of other brands hence they remain a strong brand.
SWOT analysis of the company
Strengths. The company invests a lot of money every year in training of staff at the McDonalds training facility. This ensures that their staff is able to provide excellent services to their customers and it also ensures that clients are offered good quality foods wherever they are served from. Training of staff also helps in standardization and uniformity of goods produced at all their chain stores.
Weaknesses. The company has a high turnover rate of staff from their restaurants. This means that they spend a lot of money on training staff who will not eventually be of benefit to the company. The company has not yet capitalized on the current trend towards organic foods.
Opportunities. The current society is all about being health conscious especially on matters pertaining to gaining weight. Introduction of a healthy burger into the current market would be a huge opportunity for the company to invest in considering that other companies have not yet invested in the idea yet.
The company could also invest in providing customers with an optional allergen free food choices. Foods that are peanut free or gluten free are good examples. This attracts more customers who have certain food allergies to try out the foods that allergen free.
Threats. Any food contamination along the supply chain could be disastrous to the company. Bacterial contamination especially e-coli can result in the restaurant being a source of disease outbreak thus tarnishing the name of the company among its customers and the target market.
Their major competitors can easily overthrow them in case of any laxity in service production or marketing strategies. Their competitors could also come up with new and better products thus putting the company at a risk of lagging behind CITATION SWO15 l 1033 ( SWOT Analysis of Mcdonalds , 2015).
Capitalizing on strengths and opportunities
The company should continue training its staff as this not only helps the company to produce excellent quality gods but it also ensures that customers are assured of quality services from whichever point they are served from.
The company should make an effort in investing in healthy burgers. This includes making them as well as advertising them. This diversifies their range of products while at the same time attracting a new breed of customers. Other means of diversifying their products is the introduction of allergen-free foods and thus incorporating more customers into their list of customers.
Minimizing on weaknesses and threats
The company should offer its staff more attractive payment packages in order to curb high turnover. This ensures that the staff stays around longer as they enjoy the benefits that come with working for the company.
The company should put in place stringent measures especially for the food suppliers and those handling food. The company should ensure that all the food that is brought to the company is certified to rule out any infections. The foods could also be tested for common bacteria before it is cooked to ensure customer safety.
Strategy levels and types used
McDonald has employed various level strategies to be able to come up at the top globally.to maximize returns, increase profitability and also cement customer loyalty. These strategies have to be constantly revised and new ones employed. McDonalds is not the only fast-food chain and as such receives competition from various others such as the burger king. To be able to have a competitive advantage some of the strategies it should embrace include;
Vertical acquisitions-This refers to investing in smaller companies by buying them for the sole purpose of acquiring their products and also increasing returns through improvement in value of a product. For example it had acquired chipotle the Mexican grill but the association failed in the long run. McDonald’s should expand by incorporating smaller companies that have the potential to grow but that may lack important aspects like marketing resources that McDonalds could easily provide. This is because it is recognized globally and thus it has connections that could see an acquired small investment grow beyond
Developing unique advantages over other competitors is another strategy that McDonalds should employ. This may include issues of speed. Being a fast food store means that its customers need quick service and therefore being slow is not an option. The management should set up systems that provide quicker service to avoid losing their customers to other fast food stores. Receiving quick but still quality service will tremendously increase their profitability by first gaining an increased number of clients. Social networking is another distinctive advantage that McDonalds could achieve over other competitors and this could be implemented through relations with the youth and teenagers via social media. This could go a long way in achieving loyalty as today’s generation are all about the social media thus reaching most of its customers. Another recommendation is that the company should increase their stores in gas stations as it provides customer service during stopovers. This is a convenient way of acquiring more customers from other fast food stores because while for example a family stops to get gas, they could as well get some meals provided by a store at the gas station CITATION Sec15 l 1033 (Sec.gov, 2015).
Communication is very essential in any company because it is through this that orders are given, feedback is provided and important information is passed up and down or jus down depending on the type of leadership employed. A stakeholder communication plan identifies who needs to be communicated to, regarding what, how you are going to do it and how frequent. The company needs to come up with relevant communication objectives that must be clear and which must aid company in achieving its overall goals. An example of an objective for McDonalds would be “to create awareness about the new methods of service in the various stores to increase customer loyalty”. The awareness will be measured through measurement tools put in place that include surveys or regular checks. Secondly a communication plan requires key messages to avoid ambiguity and confusion in the company. These have to be frequently used and to all stakeholders. The third component is identifying the key stakeholders and these are those that are most important. In deciding these key stakeholders one needs to perform an exercise that ranks them to gauge their satisfaction with the company and, therefore, to determine those who are accorded highest priority during communication. The key stakeholders in McDonalds may include the board of management. Key messages for each stakeholder group are then formulated and they are generally different according to relevance. The messages sent to the board at McDonalds would be different to those of the branch managers or the sponsors or even the charitable trusts. The next step in the communication plan involves coming up with the exact ways of communicating the formed messages to each stakeholder. For example when is the appropriate time and through whom. Last but not least another element in a communications plan is allocating the appropriate responsibilities and finance. Accountability is very essential in any corporation as they have to be answerable about any failures and also receive recognition for successes. A quarterly communications calendar is then created and through one of these McDonalds, for example, is able to relate and know all that is to be achieved. It assists for efficient planning prior to implementation and also warning to the involved parties the last element of the communication plan involves assessing the outcomes of the implemented plan. This can be done by getting feedback from the top stakeholders through interviews or even questionnairesCITATION McD15 l 1033 (Vignali, 2015).
Corporate governance mechanisms
This refers to how a board to a specific company is structured it is normally not fixed but changes with time. Independence of the directors-every single one of the directors is independent apart from the chief executive officer. The independence is normally evaluated by a board of directors and if in any case their independence is compromised the director is expected to resign. An independent director is not linked to a company’s way of business and therefore being uninvolved reduces chances of impairing their judgments.
Qualifications of directors and their selection- the body involved in selecting individuals for board membership is called the governance committee but subject to the board approval. This mechanism provides a forum for choosing individuals with good judgment and reduces bias or selection based on influence. A board with appropriate members ultimately provides the company with good managerial skills and insights that are not compromised CITATION Inv15 l 1033 ( Investors, 2015).
Leadership at McDonalds
The management style employed at a McDonald restaurant is that of teambuilding whereby there’s a team of employees and also the overall restaurant manager or otherwise the team leader. He/she is liable for setting expected targets, creating awareness via campaigns, training employees, planning budgets, controlling the stock to avoid misuse among other responsibilities. This style allows for employee input to the manager and in performing their daily duties as they are involved in coming up with the targets to meet. This therefore is an effective method in ensuring employee satisfaction and motivation that consequently leads to better service and thus higher returns. To achieve improvement regular checks ought to be carried out and feedback sought from lower levels to the higher levels in the leadership hierarchy. Input from the employees on the ground should be taken into consideration as well because they interact with the customers day to day CITATION Jou15 l 1033 (Journal, 2015).
Corporate ethics
Ethics refers to morally right or wrong principles according to the society. They provide direction on how to conduct self and others. Critics argue that McDonalds is unethical as it provides unhealthy food that leads to obesity, life-threatening illnesses and also heart diseases. In a society this can be deemed unethical and therefore the corporation has taken measures to counteract it. For example it has expanded the menu to include salads; also a merger with Pfizer pharmaceutical company has seen it counteract some of these sentiments. They produce food that is still appetizing and also contains pharmaceutical substances that neutralize effects of the initial meal. This has seen customers enjoy their food choices with ease CITATION Inv15 l 1033 ( Investors, 2015).
Conclusion
McDonalds is a globally recognized brand that has evolved over the years from a simple store and household name to a big corporation. Various level strategies have been put in place by different managers along the way all for the benefit of the company. All companies have their areas of strengths that should be maximized to outweigh the weaknesses. Any ethical malpractices caused by a company’s strategies should be evaluated to avoid confrontation and to promote good relations within the society.
References
Aboutmcdonalds.com,. (2015). Investors :: AboutMcDonalds.com. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors.htmlVignali, C. (2015, June 1). McDonald’s: “Think Globa, Act Local” – The Marketing Mix. Retrieved from Researchgate.net: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claudio_Vignali2/publication/235259287_McDonalds_think_global_act_local__the_marketing_mix/links/542cf26c0cf277d58e8c8a33.pdf
Businessteacher.org.uk,. (2015). SWOT Analysis of Mcdonalds | Business Teacher. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://www.businessteacher.org.uk/guides/business/swot/swot-analysis-of-mcdonalds.php
Macrothink.org,. (2015). Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ijld/article/download/1959/1646
Sec.gov,. (2015). McDonald’s Corporation: No Action, Interpretive and/or Exemptive Letter of September 27, 2006. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from https://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/mcdonalds092706.htm