Management: Hamburger and Traditional Dishes Essay

Questions 1. What opportunities and threats did McDonald’s face? How did it handle them? What alternatives could it have chosen? Ans: Opportunities: This wonderful phrase echoes around the world 50 million times a day, in 30,000 locations, in multitude of languages, in more than 120 countries around the globe. And this simple thought sums up the reason McDonald’s has become the best known and most popular quick service restaurant around the world, quite a tribute to Ray Kroc, who founded this company nearly 50 years ago with the simple vision expressed by his phrase ‘Take good care of those who work for you, and you will float to greatness on their achievements’ Threats: The threats to McDonald’s domestically are the lack of growth opportunities. The market is well saturated, and it would difficult to achieve double-digit growth. Other concerns are a newfound emphasis on healthier eating. But I feel the key threat to McDonald’s continued success. Because McDonald’s are everywhere, the dining experience is never special. And as Baby Boomers age and become more affluent, it is likely that they will leave behind their fast-food ways, if only to step up to moderately priced restaurants like Olive Garden, KFC and Pizzeria Uno. These chains have the added advantage of serving higher-margin alcoholic drinks. McDonald’s, meanwhile, has to continually battle Burger King and Wendy’s, which leads to an erosion of margins for everyone. Even alliances with toy manufacturers, while popular with consumers, do little for the bottom line because the cost to run these promotions can be quite expensive. How to handle them: McDonald’s faces some difficult challenges, the best solutions for them are: * Key to its future success will be maintaining its core strengths. * Unwavering focus on quality and consistency. * McDonald’s management organized a successful plan and also implement the plan. * McDonalds should provide traditional dishes. * The company could also look into expanding more aggressively abroad where the prospects for significant growth are greater. * McDonalds should distribute free sample in different offices and colleges. Alternatives: * McDonald’s is actively trying to reduce their negative impact on the environment by altering their company policies. * They have the ability to add healthier lines of food. * McDonalds should provide bonus to his employees for better performance. * McDonalds should decrease its prices in that country where per capita is very low. * McDonalds provide traditional dishes to their customers. 3. What is McDonald’s basic philosophy? How does it enforce this philosophy and adapt to different environments? Ans: McDonald’s main philosophy is to be the major player in the food services around the world. It achieves this philosophy by its highly professional management which keeps an eye on everything. Their planning and strategies are more customer driven then advertisement and moreover their food is what gives them edge over others. The management provides food according to the demand of its customer and its environment. For example: for Muslim countries their menu is according to their religious laws, for Japan where burgers are a snack, McDonald’s provide them accordingly. 4. Should McDonald’s expand its menu? If you say no, then why not? If you say yes, what kinds of products should it add? Ans: Yes, According to my view, McDonald’s satisfies the whole concept of fast food. It provides a vast range of edibles starting from different sort of burgers, snacks, different coffees, milkshakes, ice creams, pastas and even pizzas but it also provide some type of traditional dishes so that the people which do not likes these things will enjoy the traditional ones. 5. Why is McDonald’s successful in many countries around the world? Ans: In the present day – we all lead a very hectic lifestyle cramping our lives with endless things to do and accomplish. Gone are the days when meals were cooked and served in households three times a day, instead, the youth live on pre-cooked micro waved meals and fast food. We want food and we want it fast. This was essence for the rise of McDonald’s. Another reason is that McDonald’s management contributed for this huge success. It perform all five managerial skills very well and efficiently. They started from scratch but they are now a great player in food services. Their food, management , advertisement, pucks, highly equipped franchises(having sofas, chairs, Wi-Fi connections, etc) all make them best in the market and they stand out by giving edge now to its competitors in every respect.