McDonald's Strategic Plan Essay.

Write the following eassy about Mcdonald :

You have just been hired by (your selected company) as its new vice president of strategic planning. The corporation’s performance in recent years as well as the changes with business and economic conditions will be a central focus of your new job.

Given the size of the corporation and the fact that it is in a highly competitive industry, the chief executive officer (CEO) to whom you report has already given you permission to hire a staff of recent Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduates to assist you in your efforts. You recently completed the interviewing and hired four people with minimal real business experience.

In coming months, you and your team will be creating a completely new—and, presumably, more effective—strategic plan. You plan to begin by holding a kick-off meeting with your team.

To feel confident that all of the employees in your strategic planning team understand all that you have taught them, you require each to prepare a streamlined version of the key elements of a strategic plan. You require each employee to prepare the following sections of a strategic plan for the corporation's next 3-5 years.

Mission and vision statement of McDonald

McDonald is multinational American fast food company which operates several franchised restaurant chains in different countries.  The organization was founded Maurice and Richard McDonald in the year 1940. The two brothers begun their corporate as a hamburger standpoint before later reconsidering it as a franchise. McDonald is considered the world’s largest chain restaurant by its total revenue. It has approximately 36,900 outlets in over 100 countries offering services to over 69million consumers every day. The company is known for hamburgers, it also sells breakfast, French fries, soft drinks, chicken products, milkshake and wraps. As a result of changing customer tastes and negative reaction because of unhealthiness in the company’s food, the corporation included salads, fish, smoothies and fruits to its menu. (Mieth, 2005).

The mission of the company was developed by its founders, Maurice and Richard McDonald, which is being in a favourite way, a consumer’s best place of eating and drinking. This statements of mission denotes the relevance of consumers focus in the company while keeping in place the supremacy of the organization on major purchasing decisions of food and drinks. The company develops designs of restaurants as well as layouts to optimize customer experience and its level of output. The company’s mission statement consists of main components which are:  in a good way of eating and drinking, a customer’s choice and a customer’s best place of eating as well as drinking.

The vision of the company is ‘with swiftness move to driving increase in revenues and be an improving company offering services to more consumers of food delicacies everyday worldwide. This shows that the company aims at expanding its growth and operations. It further aims at flexibility in its operations in order to accommodate more customers in its chain of restaurants. This statement was articulated in community investing meeting in 2017 by the organization.

The fast retail food industry in American states has indicated increasing growth levels for the past five years. This is as a result of increase in the level of disposable income and a strengthening domestic US economy. This has enabled buyers to purchase more premium products from restaurants and groceries. The growth has been realized on wholesale and retail sale volumes of the fast food industry (Abell, 1980). The urban population is the main driver which has been able to accelerate the growth level since customers prefer eating in restaurants than cooking in their homes. Increase in buyers’ spending, awareness on eating healthier and increase in urban population have influenced the growth of fast food industry in the United States (Noe, 2006).

Strengths – McDonald has increased standardization level which seeks to make sure uniform delivery of product and services worldwide. This has been assisted by strict food standard preparation which is part of employees training and development for franchised stores and the company owned stores. McDonald is recognized as a worldwide brand and it has sponsored international events such as the World Cup and this has enabled wide coverage of its value and coverage (Bashiri, Badri, and Talebi, 2012).

Weaknesses – The menu of McDonald is considered complex as it has foods with high fat and calories level. This is unhealthy for consumers and it may end up losing its customers to competitors due to health effects such as obesity. Franchising may mean the quality of services provided at McDonald’s outlets differ in different places and this may result affecting the brand of the company.

Opportunities –   McDonald should consider   making better use of technology to increase convenience in service delivery to its online customers. It should also consider increasing its level of sustainability by coming up with appropriate recycling facilities. This will assist in demonstrating the company’s commitment to sustainability to its consumers, stakeholders and the government (Pagh, and Cooper, 1998).

Threats – The rising concerns regarding obesity levels may result to an increase in taxation on fast food which will reduce the profit margin of the organization. This will also have an impact on consumers as the tax may be transferred to them through an increase in cost of buying fast foods if McDonald is unable to the reduce contents of fat in its food. In addition, existence of franchise framework that are not friendly in some nations will limit the expansion of the company.

                                                                           Drawing 1 – Perceptual Chart

The placing chart established above shows the operations of McDonald basing on cost levels and consumers’ preference. Customers form a significant share of profitability and operational stages of the company in the food retail industry. The company in a position to offer   high competitive levels to McDonald based on price is Darden. Similarly, the high priced competition of McDonald is KFC (Galbraith, 1995).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident from the essay that McDonald has developed its position in the market share in the fast food industry from its recognized brand. However, the fast food industry requires healthier variety of products introduction offered by the organization to its consumers. The goals specified in the strategic market plan are basing on the frequently changing customer requirements (Mintzberg, 2000).

References

Al Flaiti, S. A. Human Resource Contribution to Organizational Success.

Abell, D. F. (1980). Defining the business: The starting point of strategic planning (pp. 3-26). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Bashiri, M., Badri, H., & Talebi, J. (2012). A new approach to tactical and strategic planning in production–distribution networks. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 36(4), 1703-1717.

Noe, R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. (2006). Human Resources Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage, Tenth Global Edition. McGraw-Hill Education.

Mintzberg, H. (2000). The rise and fall of strategic planning. Pearson Education.

Mieth, H. (2005). The history of McDonald's. Grin Verlag.

Galbraith, J. R. (1995). Designing organizations: An executive briefing on strategy, structure, and process. Jossey-Bass.

Pagh, J. D., & Cooper, M. C. (1998). Supply chain postponement and speculation strategies: how to choose the right strategy. Journal of business logistics, 19, 13-34.