Case Study: MC Donald's

CASE
STUDY
Mc Donald’s
INTRODUCTION
 McDonald’s, the leader in the fast-food wars, faced a crossroads in
the early 1990s.
 Domestically, sales and revenues were flattening as competitors like
Burger King, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell encountered new challenges
 Sonic and Rally’s competed using a back-to-basics approach of
quickly serving up burgers, just burgers, for timeless consumers.
 McDonald’s was gathering flak from environmentalists who decried
all the litter and solid waste its restaurants generated each day
 To counter some of the criticism, McDonald’s partnered with the
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to explore new ways to make
its operations more friendly to the environment.
 Together, EDF and McDonald’s considered its impact on a wide
range of stakeholders—customers, suppliers, franchisees, and the
environment. The company gave its franchisees much autonomy in
finding ways to eliminate environmental blight
FACTS
 McDonald’s roots go back to the early 1940s when two brothers
opened a burger restaurant that relied on standardized
preparation to maintain quality the Speed Service System.
 So impressed was Ray Kroc with the brothers’ approach that he
became their national franchise agent, relying on the company’s
proven operating system to maintain quality and consistency.
 Over the next few decades, McDonald’s used controlled
experimentation to maintain the McDonald’s experience, all the
while expanding the menu to appeal to a broader range of
consumers. For example, in June 1976, McDonald’s introduced
a breakfast menu as a way to more fully utilize the physical
plant. In 1980, the company rolled out Chicken McNuggets.
……Continued
FACTS
 Introduction of brown paper bags with a considerable
percentage of recycled content.
 Solicitation of suppliers to produce corrugated boxes
with more recycled content, which had the twin effect of
reducing solid waste and building a market for recycled
products.
 Abandonment of polystyrene clamshell containers to
hold sandwiches in favor of new paper-based wraps that
combined tissue, polyethylene, and paper to keep food
warm and prevent leakage.
MCDONALD’S SUSTAINED
PROSPERITY
 The secret of McDonald’s success is its willingness to innovate,
even while striving to achieve consistency in the operation of its
many outlets. For example, its breakfast menu, salads, Chicken
McNuggets, and the McLean Deluxe sandwich were all
examples of how the company tried to appeal to a wider range
of consumers.
 The company has also made convenience its watchword, not
only through how fast it serves customers, but also in the
location of its outlets. Freestanding restaurants are positioned so
that you are never more than a few minutes away by foot in the
city or by car in the suburbs. Plus McDonald’s is tucking
restaurants into schools, stores, and more.
KEY THREATS
 The key 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. Most of McDonald’s most popular fare
probably in some small way contributes to the increasing incidence of
cancer, heart disease, and diabetes among the population.
 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, Bennigans, 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.
MCDONALD’S AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
 In some ways, partnering with the Environmental Defense Fund was a
masterstroke. It brought both respectability and valued expertise to its
environmental efforts. It also provided a primetime venue for EDF to
make a difference. Any successes, even if only incremental
improvements, would have major ramifications because of the sheer size
of McDonald’s operations.
 McDonald’s should continue its partnership with EDF. With ecology a
growing concern among consumers, it makes sense to be a good corporate
citizen and get all the public relations accolades that go along with such
an alliance. It also pays off in the bottom line by reducing shipping costs
for supplies as well as garbage removal fees.
 McDonald’s would do well to stay in the vanguard of corporations who
have become environmentally aware. If it tries to shirk its responsibilities,
it can foresee a public relations nightmare in the making. But if it does
manage to come up with some breakthroughs through its collaboration
with EDF, it can score a tremendous amount of goodwill with the public,
which may even provide a halo effect to mitigate any other PR troubles.
…….Continued
 How far should McDonald’s go on environmental
issues? There is definitely a public relations benefit in
being seen as an environmental leader, and the
collaboration with EDF goes a long way in making that
happen. Still McDonald’s has had a lot of success in
giving its franchises some latitude in developing new
solutions.
 The line in the sand in determining how far McDonald’s
should go with its environmental efforts is determined by
the cost of the initiative relative to the hard-dollar
benefits and harder-to-quantify public relations buzz it
gets from being in the forefront on environmental issues
CONCLUSION
 McDonald’s faces some difficult challenges. Key to its

future success will be maintaining its core strengths—an
unwavering focus on quality and consistency—while
carefully experimenting with new options. These
innovative initiatives could include launching higher-end
restaurants under new brands that wouldn’t be saddled
with McDonald’s fast-food image. The company could
also look into expanding more aggressively abroad
where the prospects for significant growth are greater.
 The company’s environment efforts, while important,
should not overshadow its marketing initiatives, which
are what the company is all about.
1)WHAT ARE THE REAL ISSUES IN OPERATIONS
STRATEGY IN MAC? CLASSIFY THEM.
The key thing that McDonald’s operations strategy has to

support is experimentation. Now somewhat long in the
tooth, McDonald’s needs a breakthrough that will
provide new avenues of growth. It has a long history of
such experimentation, which has resulted in some new
profit centers like Chicken McNuggets and the breakfast
menu. Some later turn out to be duds like the McLean
Deluxe, but inevitably experimentation in limited outlets
offers McDonald’s a way to retain its key strengths—
quality and consistency—while continuing to evolve for
new palates and pocket books.
2)ASSUME YOU ARE THE MANAGER OF
MAC AND GIVE YOUR VIEWS /
SOLUTIONS TO THE ISSUES IN MAC
o Create awareness within store team members of what constitutes the true fast-
food experience
o Install a computer-based customer feedback kiosk in every restaurant
o Install a feedback program that makes it possible to quantify team

performance
o Set up the system to screen out phony feedback
o Set up a similar feedback system for drive-thru customers
o Encourage feedback with guaranteed anonymity and surprise rewards

3)WHICH CHARACTERISTICS OF MCDONALD’S
PRODUCTION SYSTEM HAVE BEEN MOST
IMPORTANT IN BUILDING ITS RECORD OF
SUCCESS AND GROWTH IN THE INDUSTRY?
 Their uniform operating system, taste and service in

every McDonald’s outlets at every time.
 McDonald’s was very particular in quality of the raw
materials they used and very concerned with their
suppliers.
 Their concern over the franchises and make them to feel
as one of their partner and to work towards prospective.
4)WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY NEW CHALLENGES
MCDONALD’S FACED IN THE 1990S?
 McDonald’s, the long-time leader in the fast-food wars, faced

a crossroads in the early 1990s. Domestically, sales and
revenues were flattening as competitors like on its domain. In
addition to its traditional rivals—Burger King, Wendy’s, and
Taco Bell the firm encountered new challenges. Sonic and
Rally’s competed using a back-to-basics approach of quickly
serving up burgers, just burgers, for time-less consumers. On
the higher end, Olive Garden and Chili’s had become potent
competitors in the quick service field, taking dollars away
from McDonald’s, which was firmly entrenched in the fast-
food arena and hadn’t done anything with its dinner menus to
accommodate families looking for a more upscale dining
experience.
 5)How would you adopt the system to accommodate these changes
in the US?
 Usage of eco-friendly packaging, ensuring efficient solid

waste disposal
 Necessary changes in ambience space as per requirement
 Allocation of budget for research and development
(R & D )
 Elasticity in operational time
 Streamlining of menu

6)HOW CAN MCDONALD’S LAY THE BASIS FOR
FUTURE GROWTH?
 McDonalds have to keep innovating the product

 Developing outstanding supplier relationship
 Improving the equipment
 Training and monitoring the franchisees
 Use advance erp and data centers

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CASE

 McDonald’s faces some difficult challenges. Key to its

The key thing that McDonald’s operations strategy has to

o Install a computer-based customer feedback kiosk in every restaurant

o Install a feedback program that makes it possible to quantify team

o Set up the system to screen out phony feedback

o Set up a similar feedback system for drive-thru customers

o Encourage feedback with guaranteed anonymity and surprise rewards

 Their uniform operating system, taste and service in

 McDonald’s, the long-time leader in the fast-food wars, faced

 Usage of eco-friendly packaging, ensuring efficient solid

 Allocation of budget for research and development

 McDonalds have to keep innovating the product

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