McDonald's Competitive Strategy Analysis

This assignment delves into the competitive strategies employed by McDonald's to achieve its objectives. It examines various aspects such as their mission statement, vision, marketing mix, operational practices in different countries (Russia, India, and China), and the challenges they face in a health-conscious society. The analysis highlights McDonald's successful global expansion and adaptation strategies while emphasizing the importance of continuous innovation to remain competitive.

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Strategic Management for McDonald’s Corporation
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Executive summary
Strategic management is the fundamental tool for the operations and performance of business.
The setting of strategies and action plans for a business goes in hand when implementing the set goals
and objectives. Using a case study of McDonald's Corporation, an organisation's vision and mission
have been assessed to discuss the choosing of strategies and policies for a firm. The action plans
implemented by McDonald's have been the cause of its resilience and significant achievements as the
fast-food service industry.

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................................4
2.0 Part 1....................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Vision statement...............................................................................................................................6
2.2 Mission statement............................................................................................................................6
2.3 Value statement................................................................................................................................7
2.4 Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
3.0 Part 2....................................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Strategic goals and objectives..........................................................................................................8
3.2 Analysis of the organisation's strategic plan....................................................................................9
4.0 Part 3..................................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Strategic Options............................................................................................................................11
5.0 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................12
6.0 References..........................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The McDonald's Corporation ranks as the world's biggest foodservice industry. Since its inception
in 1955 as indicated by Mehbin and Molla (2013), it was a single and simple restaurant as it begun in
San Bernardino, located in California and has now grown into the largest corporation in foodservice
business in the world as from the 1990s (Han, 2008). To the present day, the firm has become the next
local and global food chain. In their publication, Marketline (2012) described that McDonald's whose
popularity stems from its produce of fries and burgers, it makes sales to more than 32,000 restaurants
across 117 nations. In fact, the company recorded 64 million as the daily mean number of consumers in
2010 (MarketLine, 2012). From its head office in Oak Brook, Illinois, the company has full operations
in Asia Pacific, the Americas and Europe, and has an approximately, 400,000 employees.
Founded by Ray Korc, McDonald's has maintained consistency in uniformity and quality
production techniques as set by Ray Korc and the company's core proposition as quality, hygiene, value

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and service. Besides that, the survival of the business has been through the concept of three parts that
include: McDonald's, franchisees and suppliers (Mehbin & Molla, 2013).
Organisations should exercise flexibility and be in a position to make the rapid response to
alterations in the competitive market. Also, they need to make occasional benchmarks to get the
appropriate strategy. This would involve dedicated outsourcing for efficiency as well as develop
expertise in particular areas to maintain a competitive advantage (Daft, 2005). Therefore, as argued by
Mehbin and Molla (2013) adequate performance and action plan are two essential elements in
production and which forms the principal aim of an organisation. Indeed, McDonald's success has
been driven by the investment of choosing and formulating the best strategy.
According to Richard Daft (2005), a company's vision and mission illustrate its prospective place
and sole purpose. Therefore, the aim of this research is to discuss the McDonald's Corporation and
comprehend about its vision and mission as well as determine the purposes of its action plan and
objectives. Furthermore, analyse the development that will enable in accomplishing set goals and
objectives, and that will constitute the acknowledgement of alternative policies. The organisation for
the case study chosen is McDonald's Corporation.
2.0 Part 1
In essence, vision and mission are simplified phrases that are the driving forces and
embodiment of an organisation. Usually, the vision affirmation brings out the bigger picture of the
expected future progress and advancement of an enterprise. Subsequently, the statement initiates a
course for the company including all of its frameworks, goals and objectives. As in the case of
McDonald's Corporation, Pauline Meyer (2017) discusses that the vision and mission declaration
provides a map for the management of the fast food industry. In other words, the statement of its vision
is a direction to the corporation's general strategy focusing on its present top position in the global
market. As a fast food restaurant, while its mission statement instructs on the firm's action plans and

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strategic aims for the efficient performance of operations (Barktus, Glassman & McAfee, 2006).
2.1 Vision statement
Therefore, McDonald's vision affirmation is seen below as stated by Pauline Meyer (2017):
“To achieve modernization by advancing as a burger industry that provides present day consumer
demands and dedicated to provision to our clients, better tasting foods of elevated quality, and
therefore, deliver a world-class experiences which bring a feeling of belonging and appreciated” (p. 1).
It is evident that the vision statement outlines various organisational elements for McDonald's.
Firstly, there is an implication on innovation to meet the current market demands, a unique
characteristic of its produce as “great-tasting, with elevated quality food” of the vision statement.
Through modernization, the company implies brand development and by the following meaning that
McDonald's will be able to answer needs of both the present and those anticipated by their customers.
The declaration of McDonald's vision is a description of the business development approach, and
innovation in production processes becomes a strategic aim aligned to the vision statement
(McDonald's Corporation, 2015).
2.2 Mission statement
Whereas, the mission affirmation of McDonald's has been declared officially as:
“To become a customer's popular joint for meals or drinks. This commitment is to provide work for
humanity; to be of great value to the community; and provide products that are of high quality, improve
services, maintain hygiene and appreciate the loyalty consumers have shown to the Golden Arches – an
icon that has earned trust worldwide” (Meyer, 2017, p. 1).
Similarly, the mission statement uncovers information about McDonald's position in the market
and also, the procedure of managing the human capital as featured components in the declaration.
Besides that, the mission affirmation describes an aspect of corporate social responsibility of
McDonald's while the rest parts of the statement postulate the company's characteristics of the goods

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and services including the brand and image. This mission statement infers the policy objective in the
development of the company's worldwide brand to reinforce the competitive capability in the market
where investors and consumers are many. Nevertheless, McDonald's is focused on valuing optimization
through a financial goal of reducing costs (McDonald's Corporation, 2015).
2.3 Value statement
McDonald's Corporation has a single declaration of value as discussed by Mehbin and Molla
(2013), which is stated as:
“think globally and act locally” (p. 6).
Here it shows that the consumerism includes the company's local customs, values, environment
and the adequate presence delivery of products and services to the local consumer. This strategic
objective is fundamental to the overall performance of the business.
2.4 Recommendations
According to Long and Vickers-Koch (1994), the vision affirmation of a company should
represent the general action plan route. Likewise, for McDonald's, there are various aspects of the
organisation included and categorised in the vision declaration. Therefore, the objectives and goals
should be a comprehensive statement for the firm and consequently, renders the vision statement
complete and efficient. Moreover, the vision statement integrates all set goals of the company in their
various departments.
On the other hand, the mission statement remains compound in that the human resource
management features, as well as the corporate social duties, are well stipulated in the declaration.
Notwithstanding, innovation features with a lot of weight in the statement, and thus, considerably,
McDonald's need to state its innovative ideas in the mission affirmation. For Mullane's (2002)

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recommendation on the mission statement, a specification about the ideas to employ should be
featured, and in this case, it could be both research or technology-centred transformations.
3.0 Part 2.
3.1 Strategic goals and objectives
A goal refers to a statement that directs a company on what to accomplish while a target relates
to the different target responsibilities that ensure that the corporation can achieve its goals. It is
significant that an organisation develops goals that have a practical capability of being accomplished.
Also, effectiveness in performance and success of a firm, the set goals and objectives should be
realistic as well as bound by some limited time frame. Also, the company's goals need to be measurable
to assess the effort required to attain desired output.
The set goals and objectives are the priorities of McDonald's and these forms the basis for the
global success. As indicated in the Company's profile (2015) the McDonald's Corporation considers
consumers as the apex priority, and this is apparent to a popular fast food retail chain. The business
continues to exist as long as it meets the needs and wants of customers (McDonald's Corporation,
2015). The organisation places great concern not only on sales but also and more important provision
of quality goods and services to consumers at affordable and friendly prices.
Secondly, the human resource is an important goal as well. McDonald's places great concern to
employees welfare knowing that it is their input that has kept the organisation running. The workforce
from an integral component of the organisation and this is mainly due to the skills and expertise of the
employees that are most valuable to an organisation in accomplishing its aims (Han, 2008). The
corporate values as stated by MarketLine (2012), the McDonald's firm model is established to interact
with the dynamic characters of the customers and therefore, highly invests in quality thanks to the
commitment of the employees (McDonald's Corporation, 2015). Additional aims and strategic

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objectives of McDonald's (Han, 2008) are outlined below, and this indicates the leading precedence of
the company as well as predicts reasons as to a source of the company's success worldwide:
 To observe top lead in the foodservice business
 To provide quality services to customers within friendly environments
 Provide quality and affordable food products.
 Provide positive investment returns to shareholders
 To engage in moral and social responsibilities.
According to MarketLine (2012), McDonald's has endured significant problems and which it has
overcome. Among other challenges health concerns have been a big impediment for the company, for
example, the 2004 documentary video “Super Size Me” was a huge blow that brought about changes in
the company's priorities. Thus, it is profoundly critical for the company to consider growing public
concerns and especially in western countries where foods and diets have been a contributing factor to
lifestyle diseases.
3.2 Analysis of the organisation's strategic plan
This entails the bigger image of the company's prospective position, and therefore, an action
plan provides the route to achieving that future desired position of the enterprise. A strategic plan
contains processes of formulation, execution and analysis of the set policies that describe the plans for
the initiative. Usually, it begins by analysing the company's situation as a significant part of the
strategic idea as it provides a layout of the company's setting. In other words, the case analysis
comprises of the company's evaluation of the internal and external environments (Han, 2008). There
are various strategic techniques used to assess an organisation's situation such as the SWOT analysis or
PESTLE Analysis.
McDonald's SWOT analysis is a simple strategic tool that assists in discussing the strengths,
weaknesses, or weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organisation's strategic plan.

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The external analysis involves examining the outside factors of the structure that are mainly
threats or opportunities for the organisation. Similarly, an internal evaluation would mean assessment
of the strengths and weaknesses of the company. According to Babic and coworkers (2012), the
evaluation of both internal and external situation of McDonald's Corporation can be illustrated by Table
1. below:
Strengths:
The company image
Company's infrastructure
Skilled employees
Efficient technologies
High quality of food when consumer ignores
health issues
Excellent systems of distribution
Weaknesses:
The top leadership position is not stable
Health issues have impacted consumer choice
about restaurant foods
Peak session experience delays in service delivery
Opportunities:
Competent human capital
Product differentiation
Company's expansion with new branches
Develop new technologies
Threats:
Increased competition
Criticism and complaints
Product replacements
An understanding of the present business situation can be done by analysing the above aspects
and Amor (2013) recommends that involvement of staff is a crucial start since they all share the
company's views and policies for decision making. As for the internal evaluations, financial aspects,
technology, legal matters as well as competition should be assessed. For instance, the technology

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adopted by McDonald's should be flexible if updated versions are available and this consequently,
causes the action plan of change as well (Prakash and Singh, 2011). The market trends also have a
significant influence on the strategic plans of the business, in that can cause alterations during
implementation processes. It is important to align every action plan with the company's goals and
objectives to remain on track during implementation stages of policies (Vignali et al. 2003).
The external situational analysis, however, entails the external environmental changes as
responded by the company through its policies options. Moreover, action plan options for an
organisation are available for its growth and the growth design of the enterprise, and also includes
techniques to acquire a competitive advantage against contestants (Amor, 2013).
4.0 Part 3
4.1 Strategic Options
Previous research has shown that by control and resourceful utilisation of situational
opportunities for an organisation, there are positive results to be obtained. For instance, competitive
advantage can be acquired through two strategies such as cost leadership and differentiation action
plans (Vigali, 2001). For example under the policy of cost leadership, the firm can reduce its costs of
operations and also costs involved in sales and therefore, increases chances to reap increased profits
(Vignali et al. 2003). In the current competition, McDonald's faces increasing threats to companies like
KFC and Pizza Hut. Therefore, it would be strategic to reduce prices of goods to remain competitive. A
renewed focus on the internal situation of McDonald's should be initiated so as to attain the overall goal
of this action plan. A similar move would be creating unique and well-differentiated products.
Consumers would then run out of options to meet their pressing need for goods and services.
McDonald's will, therefore, be able to attract and retain its customers through this strategic plan. In a
nutshell, policy options assist a business to accomplish is strategic goals and objectives. To integrate

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these options can be beneficial to a company like McDonald's and result in increased profits and better
performance in the organisation. Also, there will be the positive provision of investment returns of the
investors and shareholders (Daft, 2003).
5.0 Conclusion
The huge success experienced by McDonald's globally is based on the outcome of the effective
implementation of their vision and mission that define the right path to take. The selection and
assessment of strategies are another secrets for the organisation to achieve its set aims and objectives.
Indeed, the combination these strategies have been tested as successful and guarantee continued
advancement of the company focusing on accomplishing its strategic goals and objectives.
6.0 References
Amor, A. 2013. McDonald's Competitive Strategy.
Babic, U., Correia, N. M., Geraldes, R., & Pinheiro, E. 2012. A case study on McDonald's operations in
Russia, India and China. Ekonomija: teorija I prasksa, vol. 4 (3), pp. 37-51
Daft, L. R. 2005. Organization theory and design, 8th edition. Thomson, South-western (Chapter 10).
Barktus, B., Glassman, M., & McAfee, B. 2006. Mission statement quality and financial perfromance.
European Management Journal, vol. 24 (1), pp. 86-94
Han, J. 2008. The business strategy of McDonald's. Yunnan University, China. International Journal of
Business and Management, vol. 3 (1), pp. 72-74
Long, C., & Vickers-Koch, M. 1994. Creating a vision statement that is shared and works. The Journal

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for Quality and Participation, vol. 17 (3), pp. 74
MarketLine. 2012. McDonald's Corporation case study: remaining relevant in a health conscious
society.
Marketline.com, pp. 1-20
McDonald's Corporation. 2015. The Company Profile. Retrieved from:
http://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/company-overview/company-overview-
segment-information.html
McDonald's Corporation. 2015. Company Information. Retrieved from:
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/student_zone/company_information.html
Mehbin, M., & Molla, Z. H. 2013. Strategy and project analyses – Introduce McDonald's in
Bangladesh.
School of Business, Stockholm, pp. 1-46
Meyer, P. 2017. McDonald's vision statement and mission statement analysis. Panmore Institute
Buisness
Management, retrieved from: http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-vision-statement-mission-
statement-analysis
Mullane, J. V. 2002. The mission statement is a strategic tool: when used properlu. Management
Decisions, vol. 40 (5), pp. 448-455
Prakash, A., & Singh, V. B. 2011. Glocalization in food business: strategies of adaptation to local needs
and demands. Asian Journal of Technology & Management Research, vol. 1 (1)
Vignali, C., Vrontis, D., & Vranecevic, T. 2003. Marketing planning: Analysis, strategy and tactics.
London: Foxwell and Davies
Vigali, C. 2001. McDonald's: “think global, act local” - the marketing mix. British Food Journal; vol.
103 (2), pp. 97-111