Change Management of McDonald's in the Australian Fast Food Market

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT MCDONALD’S
CHANGE MANAGEMENT MCDONALD’S
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1CHANGE MANAGEMENT MCDONALD’S
Introduction
The aim of this critical essay is to discuss the change management of a global company
like McDonald’s in the Australian fast food market. Fist of all the company had to gain
knowledge about various external factors like market environment and customer preferences
before the entered Australian market as it a foreign market with different organizational culture
and expectations (Gorran Farkas, 2013). This is the reason why the company had to change its
strategies for getting the best result in the Australian market otherwise McDonald’s would not be
able to do business in such a concentrated market. This change is essential for matching the
changing preferences of the customers in the market (Jacobs, van & Christe-Zeyse, 2013). For
this reason, the company is implementing changes mainly in the technological aspects and
become the most preferred food chain brand in Australia. The company background states the
fact that McDonald’s is a fast food company operating in the US market since 1954
(Corporate.mcdonalds.com, 2018). McDonald’s has a popular brand image and a reputable
history of achievements in the various counties’ market which has helped the company to enter
new markets. The market segmentation of the company is wide for which the popularity of this
brand has reached every big and small cities of the continents. The main strategy of McDonald’s
is to offer customers a high-quality fast food cheaper than the competitors
(Corporate.mcdonalds.com, 2018).
This essay will discuss the company background along with the background to change
and the main objectives to this change. This critical essay has described the changed through
three most important theories and ADKAR model of change management to show how the
change takes place.
Environmental shifts

2CHANGE MANAGEMENT MCDONALD’S
McDonald’s constantly follows the method of innovation in the production of their food
which is the chief success factor of this company worldwide. They understand that the social
needs of the customers are changing so also the market demands. However, increasing health
consciousness and avoiding greasy food hampering the brand reputation and increasing
consciousness in obesity among target market has compelling the company to bring changes in
the operation of the company. McDonald’s tops the list among the top ten fast food chains with
29.5% visitors (Chain, 2018). It has been also found that the company has highest customer
return rate which is of 2.7 times. Its immediate rivals are KFC and Subway with 19.9% and 17%
visitors (Chain, 2018).
Social factors
One of the chief problems of Australian food market is that it is highly concentrated with
a huge diversity in offerings which is increasing he competition pressure. The other competitors
of McDonald’s are more efficient as they get more technological support from the headquarters
and serve the consumers more efficiently. As the lifestyle of the population has changed
drastically, the people are preferring to visit the stores which takes much less time to serve them.
The automation has changed the food preparation and delivery design of the sector. These have
increased the expectation and comfort of the customers. From the financial data of Starbucks in
Australia, it can be found that the company has increased business after it started to provide
benefits of Wi-Fi to the customers in their shops (Investor.starbucks.com, 2018).
Technological changes
The company is really very concerned with the innovation among the competitors hence it
has initiated in investing in the technological sector in order to provide a personalized and