Innovation And Technology Transfer In McDonalds: A Case Study Essay.

Innovation is something, which alters the business environment of companies and organizations. This innovation can be brought about by the effective and judicious utilization of latest technologies. The previous sentence projects the interrelationship between technology and innovation. Countering this, technology and innovation are complementary to each other (Leischnig, Geigenmueller and Lohmann 2014). In the present scenario of business, innovation holds a key or prime part for the contemporary business organization. Innovation helps the organizations to stay ahead in the competition by offering unique product or service in the market. Counter arguing this, innovation can also be brought about by experimenting with the available products. Effective application of this skill enhances the preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge of the personnel. Placement of focus on McDonalds qualifies the report as efficient in terms of providing an insight into the technology used by the company for innovating the business activities and procedures. The word “transfer” can be correlated with the transfer of skills from one employee to the other or from one departmental unit to the other (Wright 2014).

One of the major highlights of the report is to peek into the innovation techniques adopted by the McDonalds personnel to satisfy the adrenaline rush of the customers. Owing to the increased obesity rates, the need of the hour is something like chicken salads, which possesses flexibility to regulate the eating habits of the customers amidst their stressful lives. 

Founded in 1955, McDonalds has achieved accolades and glory by becoming one of America’s fast food restaurant chain. This is due to the conscious attitude of the personnel in terms of serving lip smacking delicacies to the customers. Items such as hamburgers, burgers, rolls, wraps and desserts have lured customers from all the corners of the world. Variety in these items influences the buying power of the customers (Www.mcdonalds.co.uk 2017). Reasonability in the prices caters to the specific tastes and preferences of the customers, especially those belonging to the middle class. The presence of hard working and skilled professionals is assistance towards achieving the peak of success. According to their services, it can be placed in the same alignment with the brands such as KFc, Pizza Hut among others.

By serving large number of customers, McDonalds have earned revenue of 24.622 US dollars. Within this, the net income amounts to 7.745 US billion dollars and net income amounts to 4.686 US dollars. Over all, the assets mount to 31.024 billion US dollars and equity up to 2.2043 US billion dollars (Www.mcdonalds.co.uk 2017). This is due to the adoption of latest technology for serving the customers with quality lip smacking dishes for the satisfaction of their specific tastes and preferences.

Along with this, the current estimations project an increase of 2 billion in the property share of McDonalds. This is due to the subscription in the newspapers such as The Economist. Development of the comparative study between the finance of the company with that of the finance of the super powers enhance the clarity of the company personnel in terms of setting their own price. This assessment helps the personnel to influence the purchasing power of the customers (Www.mcdonalds.co.uk 2017).

Research aim

Developing playgrounds is the new attraction among the customers especially the children. Spacious playgrounds cater to the entertainment needs of the customers along with easing out their hunger (Www.mcdonalds.co.uk 2017).

Frequent evaluation of the provided offers and services helps the personnel to bring noticeable improvements, which upgrades the standard and quality of the products and services. Rational and conscious thinking to this evaluation helps McDonalds to achieve competitive edge over the contemporary brands.

The aim of this report is to assess the effectiveness of food processors on the production of food items of McDonalds for altering the business scenario and achieve large scale customer satisfaction.  

• To understand the concepts related to innovation and technology transfer such as open and closed innovation; technological knowhow, knowledge management among others.
• To gain an understanding about food processors used in McDonalds for producing healthy and tasty food items. This understanding would electricity consumption, spread of current in the spare parts of the food processor among others.
• To assess the impact of technology transfer on the customers and business of McDonalds. This would involve the intensity of the crisis; approach of McDonalds towards the crisis; their capability to overcome the crisis through the exchange of technology between the departmental units.
• To examine the effectiveness and feasibility of using food processors in order to manufacture healthy yet lip smacking delicacies by McDonalds personnel. The main theme of this objective would be to satisfy the adrenaline rush of the customers and ensuring their wellbeing.
• To suggest relevant recommendations for modernizing the business of McDonalds to bring innovation in the business environment. The main components of this objective would be to peek into the aspects of market survey for selecting the appropriate food processor with latest and modern features.

• What impact does technology transfer have on the customers and business of McDonalds?
• Are the food processors used by McDonalds personnel effective and feasible enough to manufacture healthy yet lip smacking delicacies?

Literature review enhances the preconceived knowledge of the readers about the subject matter of the research. This is due to the provision of insight into the scholarly review of the articles. Theoretical application to this scholarly review enlivens the intensity to which technologies such as food processors can influence the business processes of food industry. Critical review of these theoretical application helps in excavating the gaps in literature. Emerging successful in this direction enhances the role of the researcher. Critical review of the scholarly articles justifies the heading literature review.

Knowledge is one of an important component, which helps the individuals to maintain the pace with the others. Attending training is an additional assistance in terms of upgrading the preconceived knowledge skills and expertise of the individuals. Trainings are one of the effective means for transferring the acquired skills and experience to the employees for their professional development. Mere transmission is not adequate; the managers need to apply effective management techniques for managing the transfer of knowledge. Herein lays the correlation with the aspects of knowledge management (West and Bogers 2014). These aspects are applicable for McDonalds in terms of transferring the technology. Management occupies important position in this transfer for making effective and judicious utilization of the organizational resources. Possession of adequate knowledge helps the food industry brands to brief the employees about their correct utilization (Tidd and Bessant 2014). In view of the present sentence, the statement “practice before you preach” becomes tautologically true.

The situation of innovation arises when companies and organizations undergoes the phase of crisis. In order to adopt this innovation, latest technology is needed. Technology holds an important position in the business procedures of companies and organization. According to its functionality, technology is said to enhance the productivity of companies like KFC, Pizza Hut among others.  Effective and judicious utilization of technology bestows quality products and services on the food industry. As an example, using latest machines to make hamburgers enhances its quality.

According to Oerlemans, Knoben and Pretorius (2013), Innovation is mainly of two types: open and closed. As the name suggests, open innovation provides an opportunity to the companies and organizations regarding making effective utilization of the available technologies for maintaining the balance between the internal and external environment. Exposure of conscious and rational approach towards the preservation of quality helps the personnel to present lip smacking delicacies to the customer (Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke and West 2014). For example, using machines to place the salads within the chicken dishes, in the production lines, can be one of the fusions within the food items. This would help the line managers would be able to supervise the progress of the production at each step. This would be an example of innovative technological advancement.

Research objectives

The plan to insert salads within the hamburgers and other chicken dishes is appropriate in terms of bestowing the opportunity of having a gluten free meal to the customers. The customers belonging to the old age would be benefitted through this plan as their health would be in control (Chatterji and Fabrizio 2014). Along with this, if the dishes are topped with seafood and corns, then the nutritional value of the dishes would increase to a great extent. However, modern machines need to be used by the production manager in order to thoroughly clean the sea foods and the corns. Washing the dishes and the corns twice or thrice would remove the bacteria and make the dishes healthy. Rinsing the raw materials, in this way, results in the extraction of pure juice, which further helps in making lip smacking sauces for toppings on the main dishes.

Planning these types of innovations enhances the corporate social responsibility in terms of gifting a healthy lifestyle to the customers. However, for bringing this innovation the brands needs to take into consideration the basic aspects related to innovation (Cetindamar, Phaal and Probert 2016). Within this, one type of innovation is the closed innovation, which restricts the entry of foreign investors into the internal environment of the food brands. In view of this situation, the proposed innovation seems impossible. This is in reference to the incapability to obtain latest and modern machines for preparing the fusion foods. Even the possession of quality raw materials would not prove beneficial under this lacking.

This type of innovation in the production possesses flexibility to make further small changes. Even though these changes are smaller, they are continuous, ultimately altering the business scenario of industries, such as the food. Countering this, radical innovation compels the industry to adopt new machines, which attaches a negative tone to the old machineries (Carayannis, Sindakis and Walter 2015). Within this, the personnel need to expose strategic thinking for using the latest technologies. Herein lays the appropriateness of the aspect of technology transfer.

Methodology enhances the clarity of the readers regarding the methods adopted for conducting the research. Taking into consideration the research onion provides an insight into the components of the research methodology and their applicability in the subject matter of the research. The following section develops a methodology, which provides an insight into the methods through which the relevant data is collected. The data is collected from the chefs and managers of McDonalds. Typical components of this methodology are research approach, research design and research strategy. These aspects provide an insight into the attempt of the researcher in terms of revealing his approach towards the collection of relevant data.  

Every action has a specific approach for its completion. This is also applicable for research. Envisioning the application of appropriate approach helps the researcher to achieve positive outcomes. Possession of appropriate approach towards the execution of the research helps the researcher to achieve positive outcomes. There are mainly two types of research approach-deductive and inductive. In this report, deductive approach has been used for deducing new innovative processes for satisfying the tastes and preferences of the customers. Inductive approach is neglected as it involves inducing unknown facts from the pre-existing ones (Filieri and Alguezaui 2014) . Deductive approach helps the researcher to deduce the possible outcomes in case of McDonalds in terms of producing healthy and tasty items through the food processors.

Research questions

The process of interview has been selected by the researcher for collecting relevant data in this research. For the execution of this interview process, 3 customers, 3 managers and 6 operational staffs have been selected. In this interview process, the managers of McDonalds are included. Face to face interview is conducted for these managers. This method had been selected in order to take note of the facial expression of the managers. Noting down the expressions proves helpful in terms of considering their viewpoints for reaching to the outcomes (Slater,  Mohr and Sengupta 2014) . Along with this, telephonic interview has also been conducted in the second phase for taking additional information on the already collected information. Apart from this, the process of Skype interview is also adopted for collecting data from the managers, who were unable to attend the interview session.

In case of the operational staffs, the above mentioned interview process remain constant. In addition to these, the processes of video conferencing, voice calling were included. Along with this, business experts and critiques were called for interviewing the staffs regarding their usage of technologies, such as food processors for manufacturing healthy yet tasty delicacies for the customers (Cetindamar, Phaal and Probert 2016).

There are mainly three types of research design-exploratory, explanatory and descriptive. In this report, the researcher uses exploratory design. This exploration leads to the establishment of unknown facts regarding innovation and technology transfer. Explanatory and descriptive designs are not used by the researcher as they are time consuming and complicated (Chesbrough,  Vanhaverbeke and West 2014).

Linking with the research methodology

Findings and analysis acts as a response to the proposed methodology. This is applicable to all the research including the current one on the management of innovation and technology transfer. In the methodology portion, it was proposed that 3 managers, 3 customers and 6 operational staffs were selected for conducting the interview process. In this chapter of findings and analysis, questions for the interview were prepared (Zedtwitz et al. 2015). Within this, straight forward questions were included, so that to the point answers can be obtained for completion of the data analysis.

Along with this, tables, charts and graphs have been used for depicting the responses of the selected samples. This pictorial representation enhances the clarity and vision of the readers, especially the businessmen of food industry personnel in terms of applying effective management techniques for achieving technological advancement. Refraining from the use of personal questions in the interview process is a wiser step for the researcher in terms of preserving the individual sentiments of the samples (Slater, Mohr and Sengupta 2014). This reflects the oriental approach of the research in terms of analyzing the data efficiently and effectively.

Along with this, using the responses of the managers, customers and operational staffs for portraying the real environment of McDonalds relates to the systematized design of the researcher in terms of technological usage. Taking into consideration, ethical and accessible sources safeguards the researcher from indulging into the instances of plagiarism and collusion. Herein lays the importance of adhering to the research ethics, which qualifies the researcher to experiment with the viewpoints and opinions of the samples (Slater, Mohr and Sengupta 2014).

Literature review

The responses of the managers act as an address to the issues of obesity and other health conditions. As a matter of specification, presenting the chicken salads with corn and vegetable toppings would make the customers; especially the older ones crave and yearn for the dish. This would alter the age old custom of McDonalds, which serve only to the younger people. For this, fresh and pure vegetables and raw materials need to be adopted.

Conclusion and recommendations

Technology is one such factor, which revolutionizes the business of companies and organizations. It helps companies like McDonalds to enhance the productivity. Effective and judicious utilization of the technologies helps the company to execute the business activities in an efficient and effective manner. In order to operate these technologies, the employees and the managers need to possess adequate knowledge. Transfer of the preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge to the employees, lacking the required knowledge produces collaborative output, which sparks out innovative ideas for completion of the tasks. Herein lays the correlation with the action of research approach of the methodology section.

Using the latest technologies to prepare the food items helps the personnel to satisfy the adrenaline rush of the customers. As a matter of specification, using tehnologies suh as food processors prepares the food items at one go. Setting the appropriate operating current prepares healthy chicken, burgers, hamburgers (Oerlemans, Knoben and Pretorius 2013). This supervision helps the managers to make estimates regarding the finished products and their impact on the customers. Consciousness towards quality and originality of the product escalates the sales revenue of McDonalds and adds maximum value to the profit margin. This escalation helps the company to sustain their position within the competitive ambience of the market. Exposure of strategic vision towards the implementation of the proposed strategies relates with the research design. Effective utilization of the interview process bears resemblance with the research approach. Emerging successful in this utilization enables the researcher to produce effective and efficient methodology. This recommendation bears resemblance with the third objective and research question. As a matter of specification, effective and judicious utilization of the technologies helps the McDonalds personnel to enhance the productivity, which is an agent in terms of luring large number of customers towards the brand image. Moreover, ability to make effective use of the technologies, such as food processors would revolutionize the businesses of McDonalds.

Evaluation helps McDonalds to excavate the major drawbacks within the methods of doing business. Carrying out this evaluation, in the form of meetings, involving the stakeholders and shareholders, helps the personnel to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of the undertaken steps in terms of the identified and the specified requirements (Simakova and Coenen 2013). Using checklists and templates for this evaluation helps the personnel to maintain records of the steps taken for bringing innovation in the businesses. Application of rational thinking and consciousness in the utilization of the interview processes projects the willingness of the researcher in terms of strategizing the design and approach towards execution of the research in an efficient manner. This recommendation bears resemblance with the fourth objective, which is to identify the impact of technology on the customers and business of McDonalds. Enhancement of productivity, customer satisfaction, customer attraction, expansion of business acts as a medium between these linkages. However, the employees need to be briefed about the proper usage of technology; otherwise the proposed plans would not be successful in terms of the identified and the specified requirements.

Knowledge

Based on the proposed points, it can be concluded that technology is the key to success for companies and organizations including McDonalds. However, market research is needed for selecting latest food processors, which consumes less current. Selection of this type of food processors would equally divide the current between the spare parts of the food processor. Along with this, consumption of less current would help the personnel to use the electricity for other purposes, such as automatically rinsing the raw materials, placement of the lettuce leaves within the layers of hamburgers, burgers among others. Market research is one of the concepts related with technology. Carrying out in depth market research enhances the preconceived knowledge of the McDonalds professionals about the technologies, in demand in the market.

Keeping the kitchen clean would be one of the specific recommendations, which would help the personnel of McDonalds to ensure the health conditions of the customers. The chefs should be instructed to wash their hands before starting the food preparation. This would be the initiation of cleanliness and hygiene. After rinsing, the raw materials can be examined in the machines for ensuring the presence of bacteria. Green signal in this would help the production managers to proceed with the process. This recommendation bears resemblance with the third objective. Maintenance of hygiene is a prime factor in terms of customer attraction and ensuring their wellbeing. Along with this, it also preserves the quality and originality of the items. Consciousness towards the preservation of quality and originality would support the staffs to attain loyalty, trust and dependence from the customers.

Along with this, adoption of proper waste disposal strategies would help McDonalds to contribute less to the environmental pollution. Typical examples in this are segregation of the recyclable and the non-recyclable wastes before disposal; solid waste management among others. Along with this, speculating the financial flexibility helps the personnel to purchase the selected device (Lackéus and Williams 2015). On the contrary, financial instabilities would compel the company to encounter difficulties in adopting latest technologies for bringing innovation in the business environment. This recommendation maintains continuity with the second objective. Adoption of proper waste disposal methods keeps the McDonalds premises clean, which is an agent in terms of attracting the foreign investors. Rational application in this direction paves the way of foreign market penetration for McDonalds.

The report provides in depth insight into the aspect of technology transfer. As a matter of specification, transfer of preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge nullifies the aspect of “lack of adequate knowledge”. Application of the recommendation of training in this context omits the word “lack” and fills the fissures (Chatterji and Fabrizio 2014). This filling can be related with the action of management. Increasing the frequency of the trainings would prove beneficial for the employees of McDonalds, as they would attain a firm grasp over the basic management skills. Linking the recommendations with the proposed objectives, results in the assessment of their effectiveness and feasibility in terms of the identified aim. This assessment authenticates and validates the rationale behind the execution of the research.

Importance of innovation and technology transfer

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