Marketing Strategies Analysis

This assignment requires students to analyze and critically evaluate the marketing strategies of a chosen company or industry using various strategic analysis tools such as SWOT analysis (illustrated in the provided resource), Porter's Five Forces, and other relevant frameworks. The assignment is based on key concepts and theories from several recommended texts including 'Essentials of Marketing' by Lamb et al., 'Total Relationship Marketing' by Gummesson, and an online resource on service marketing mix.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1. The key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function..........................................1
P2. The roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context...2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Application of marketing mix...........................................................................................3
Marketing mix of competitors ..............................................................................................5
P4 Development and evaluation of marketing plan .............................................................7
Market analysis.......................................................................................................................7
SWOT analysis of McDonald...............................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
Online..................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the process of promoting a business and selling its products or services by
making the necessary business plan according to the preferences of the customers and the market
research. McDonald's is a big international fast food chain, which is famous for its good quality
of burgers with a refreshing taste. The organisation is very popular among the children as it
provides the combos of burgers and soft drink with a play toy in it. It gives the advantages and
the opportunities to McDonald's to capture the market share and the biggest fast food restaurant
in UK. The organisation has focussed upon the preferences of its customers to retain them.
Under this report the key roles and responsibilities of the organisation and assistant manager of
McDonald's has been explained. The elements of marketing mix to achieve the business
objectives, the facilities of loans and the mortgages to the small business or individual customers
to achieve the objectives, market analysis of the business plan for the organisation by SWOT and
PESTLE has been discussed.
TASK 1
P1. The key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.
The key roles and responsibilities of the assistant marketing manager of McDonald’s is
that the manager should be capable enough to understand the perception, behaviour,
psychological behaviours and the tastes of customer, like in UK most of the people are fond of
pork, chicken, eggs, fish, etc. which shows the customers are more interested in non-veg burgers
rather than a veg menu so he should prioritise the preference of the customer for more sales
(Pike, S., 2015). He should have a deep knowledge of working, mission, vision, of the
organisation to achieve the goals. The right strategies and planning should be done according to
the market research, keeping the factors like price, competition, customer preference, trend, in
his mind. To keep the organisation updated by making the marketing strategies according to the
changing trends of the products or the marketing trends for the better and faster growth of the
organisation. The manager should be active to attend all the seminars, trade shows, exhibitions
related to the food industry to stand market competition, and for development or improvement of
product. The most important role of an assistant manager is managing his team of employees
efficiently, by motivating and giving them rewards and benefits all the employees to achieve best
results and employee loyalty. He should assist his employees in designing the promotional
material and should cooperate with advertising manager for innovative ideas of promotion. The
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marketing reports and sales reports should be generated by the management for the further use.
He should evaluate the current marketing situations and make the strategies and recommend the
improvements accordingly. The major role of a manager is to analyse the data collected to know
the sales, and the customer satisfaction towards the organisation which shows the customer
loyalty, preference, and the latest trends of the market. He need to analyse and compare the
prices of the product with the other competitors to be in competition and should also work on the
feedbacks and recommendation of the customers. There will be a major impact of increase or
decrease in income of the customers on product demand, should keep in mind the average size of
family visiting in the organisation. There should be a quality check every month and if needed
there should be the improvements (Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S., 2013). They should emphasis
on the strategies which helps to increase customers and should make the effective strategies
which helps to retain the existing customers and in making the new customers. The manager
should keep an eye on rising competition as well as its old competitors like Burger King, KFC,
etc., should also change its products according to the customer’s changing lifestyle which will
help the organisation to remain in competition as well as to get updated with the new trends and
the taste of the customers. The increasing market trends, customer behaviour, income,
preference, etc. should be kept in mind and kept improving.
P2. The roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.
The role and responsibilities of market related to wider organisational context are the
business can be successful only by its proper marketing and the organisation must take care and
listen to the needs of the customers for their loyalty and retention. The organisation should find
and solve the internal challenges for better outcome. The customer satisfaction by proper
strategic planning, customer needs fulfilment, etc. should be taken care of. The organisation must
track trends and monitor the competition to acquire important position of the product in market
and in the mind of customers (Philip, K., 2014). It is important to know the company’s position
in market as well as regarding the competition. The organisation should focus on bringing
innovative ideas into the product to make more tight and clear grip on customers’ minds. The
focus on employee benefits, customer behaviour, brand value, trends, preference, etc leads to
faster growth of the organisation. The organisation should have the proper communication
through meetings, emails, letters and memos to clear the strategies and to update its employees
with the trends of the markets. The meetings should be about management of marketing budgets
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for the advertisements, promotions, etc. for the new product introduced. The organisation should
make an effective strategic plan for efficient working and to make the grip in market to retain the
customers. For the effective organisation's strategic planning the organisation must do a proper
market research to know its areas of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to
overcome them with strong planning to beat their competitors (Malhotra and et.al., 2013). The
organisation should keep on improving its product according to the preferences, taste, trends of
the customers with the changing environment. There should be a proper communication between
the employees for the effective use in promotional materials, to discuss any problem regarding
the business plan or the promotional material. There is a cut throat competition in the market. To
overcome that the organisation should keep working on its market strategies. There should a
proper collection of data to analyse the actual sales of the product which will help to know the
likes and dislikes of the customer about product and the effective business plan will help to kick
out or lessen the competitors like burger king, KFC, etc. The vision, mission of the organisation
and its employees should be clear for the effective results in the market. The organisation should
emphasise on online delivering of the products for the convenience of the customers as well as
for the strong and wide growth of the organisation in online as well as in offline market. The
customers are key for any organisation to be successful, McDonald's is blessed to have a huge
number of customers and many more are joining it on daily basis, to increase more customers
there should be a proper strategic plan to attract them with different offers and new products.
TASK 2
P3 Application of marketing mix
It is an essential element of the marketing planning process to expand the business of the
firm in the country. The marketing mix are the elements which clearly determine the way for the
accomplishment of objectives of the organization. It defines the strategies, policies, and tactics
used by the firm to reach the target customers. It is main aspect of the organisation which has to
be taken in to consideration to expand the business activities and marketing of the product
manufactured by the organisation (Desselle, Zgarrick and Alston, 2016). In this context, the
McDonald is well-known brand which applies the marketing elements to enhance its business
activities globally. In comparison to its competitors, the McDonald has applied several variations
in its marketing mix which is suitable to local conditions in the market. The effectiveness of the
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company is implementing its marketing and contributes to the leading performance in the
market. These elements of marketing mix are described below:
 Product: It is the most important element of marketing mix which focuses on the
development of products after the analysis of the preference of the targeted customers.
It covers the different goods and services which are provided by the McDonald to the
consumers in the segmented market. In this element the company will focus on the
product differentiation in which it will develop the product which are not provided by
the competitors brand like Burger king, Starbucks, subway etc (Terpstra, Foley and
Sarathy, 2012). The firm will apply this strategy and focus on the innovation of new
products to attract the new customers. The analysis of the elements of competitors has
determined that they are focusing on the production of substitute products in the
market. It can be said that the firm will focus on the creation of innovative and
attractive products to influence the people and provide them quality products.
 Price : This element of marketing mix focuses on the development of policies to
provide the appropriate quality products at reasonable price. It involves the analysis of
the buying power of the customers through which the firm will understand the
willingness of the people to pay in exchange of products. The firm will analyse the
price strategy of the competitors to develop its structure of price for its products.
McDonald pricing strategy should focus on the price bundling in which it offers meals
and other products at a discount. It has been recognised that the McDonald will
develop various schemes which will benefit the customers in terms of money or in
terms of quantity of products. The pricing element of the company indicates that the
firm will adopt the prices of the products which are affordable by the customers
(Gummesson, 2011). This will help in development of brand image and increase in the
marketing of the products.
 Place: For the promotion of the business it is necessary that the firm subsidiary should
be located at the prominent places. The McDonald restaurant are located at the most
prominent places where it will gain the more customers and sale its product. It is also
considered that this element of marketing mix indicates the venues where the firm
provide its products to the people. It has been notified that the McDonald main places
for the distribution of product are restaurants, kiosks etc. For the expansion of
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marketing of the products the firm has developed an application for the customers. It
will be beneficial for the firm to capture the market of the competitors and also provide
the information about the products.
 Promotion: For the attracting the customers the McDonald will promote its product.
This element will determine the approaches which are used by the McDonald to
communicate with the people. There are various methods which are used by the firm
for the promotion of business such as advertisement, sales promotion, direct selling, use
of social media etc. Evaluation of the competitors promotional policies has that
determined that they using the similar methods so it is also beneficial for the firm to use
these methods for the marketing.
 Process: This element has determined the process which is followed by the firm for the
marketing of the products. It is very significant for the manager of the firm that they
will follow an appropriate process to promote the sales revenue (Shukla, 2015). It will
provide appropriate and better services to fulfil the needs of the customers.
 People : This element of emphasis on the staff of the restaurant which helps in the
promotion of business. It has been recognised that the McDonald has the qualified in
their restaurant which will provide effective services to the customers.
 Physical evidence: McDonald focuses on providing a cleanliness in the restaurants. It
is very important that the interior of the restaurant should be creative and hygienic
which mainly attract the customers.
Marketing mix of competitors
For the clear understanding of the effectiveness of the marketing mix of the firm the
manager will analyse the elements of marketing of the competitors. In this context, an analysis of
Burger king has been taken to compare the effectiveness of the marketing mix of McDonald.
 Product : Burger king has developed its products after taking an analysis of the products
of other competitors (Koontz, 2010). It has been analysed that the product quality of the
Burger king is efficient as the per prices and they are also providing the same products in
comparison with McDonald.
 Price : The pricing strategy of the burger king is most important to analyse the current
marketing position and strategies which are implemented them to increase the sales
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revenue. It has been analysed that the prices of the burger are lowest in comparison with
the McDonald.
 Place: This element has determined that the restaurants of burger king are also situated at
prime location in many countries (Service Marketing Mix – 7 P's of marketing, 2017). It
has been considered that the burger king does not have aggressive strategy of promotion
so that it has applied a limited number of food chain in the countries.
 Promotion: There are several techniques which are used by the managers of burger king
to promote the products such as advertisement, lucky promotional strategies etc (Desai,
2013). It has been considered that the burger king has targeted the children in the country
to promote its business.
 People: each outlet of the burger is headed by the restaurant manager and it is responsible
for the operations and interaction with the customers. To motivate the employees stars are
given on the basis of their performance.
 Physical Evidence: It is an important element which indicates that the burger has
provided better infrastructure facilities to its customers. It also focuses on the hygiene of
the food in the restaurant.
 Process: It has applied the transparency in the production of food products. It has
considered that the services which are provided by the burger king are perfect such as
new methods of packaging and distribution.
The analysis of the marketing mix has defined that the policies of the McDonald are more
Appropriate in comparison with the Burger king. McDonald has developed Innovative products
which are suitable to attract the customers but the burger is providing the same products without
any innovation. It has been recognised that the quality of the products of burger king is limited
because its product price is low in comparison with the McDonald.
The other elements have described that the McDonald has applied an aggressive strategy
for promotion and it has introduced the chain of restaurant in the countries (Lamb, Hair and
McDaniel, 2011). The techniques which are used the McDonald for the promotion are different
from in comparison with the Burger King for example the McDonald's has focused mostly on the
Online marketing whereas the burger has used the print media such as templates, description of
products on the paper nuts placed in the tray, hoardings etc. Therefore, it has been considered
that the marketing of the McDonald is more effective as compared with the burger king.
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P4 Development and evaluation of marketing plan
McDonald is a well known brand of hamburger and the fast food restaurant chain which
was founded 1940 in California and was established in UK since 1974. It the leading global
retailer of food products with over 36000 outlets in 100 countries. The important aspect of the
McDonald is that the more than 80% of the restaurants are owned by independent business men
(Blythe, 2012). There are various services which are provided by the McDonald to attract the
customers such as Better quality products at reasonable price, Attractive and variety of products,
packing facility etc.
Marketing Objectives
There are various objectives which are to be accomplished for the purpose of marketing and
promotion of the products of the McDonald. These objectives are described below:
 To provide satisfaction to the customers by providing the products as per the preference.
 Providing better services to the customers in comparison to the competitors.
 To increase the reputation of the brand and attract the people of different countries.
 To explore new restaurants and maintain the situation of growth in the market.
Market analysis Competitors: For the development of marketing of plan an analysis it is important for
the company to analyse the strategies applied by the rivals for the marketing. It has been
recognised that the company that the MCDONLDS has applied the strategy after taking
analysis of the marketing mix of the Burger king. The comparison of both the companies
have determined that the marketing policies of McDonald is more effective as compared
to the competitors (Bennett, 2010). McDonald will apply an aggressive strategy for the
expansion of the business.
 Nature of market: The analysis of the market has determined that the market situation of
the McDonald is highly competitive because various substitutes are available in the
market. It has been recognised that the competitors like burger king are selling there
products at low prices which will marketing of the company. Therefore, the company will
apply the product development strategy and promote its product at reasonable price.
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 Customers: It has been determined that the firm will target the customers who have an
appropriate buying power and will produce the products according to there preference
(William, 2012). It will increase the market share of the company and also help in
promotion of the products globally.
SWOT analysis of McDonald
McDonald's is a company which franchise and operates restaurant that serves healthy and
good quality food and drinks. The company is expanded in around 100 counties across the world.
The quality of McDonald's can be evaluated by different analysis techniques. The technique used
in this section is SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis is the method which is adopted to evaluate the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company.
 Strength: McDonald's is the second largest restaurant chain in the world after Subway. It
is operated moreover than 120 countries. The company and its franchise has 36,899
restaurant all around the world. The strength of McDonald's is the sheer size of the
company's restaurant chains. The fixed rates of products over many restaurant locations
makes it one of the cheapest places to go at. McDonald's is one of the very well-known
brand in restaurant groups. Wide range of customers arrive at McDonald's. This strength
not only helps McDonald's to target more customers but also helps to increase its brand
value and add more facilities and services.
 Weakness : The biggest weakness of McDonald's is that it is not adopting the practice of
healthier options in its products. McDonald's is giving grease fried foods and burgers to
its customers which is distracting the customers. Negative publicity by the rivals of the
company due to unhealthy food is also affecting the brand name (Babin and
Zikmund,2015). There are not much seasonal products varieties available in McDonald's.
High training costs taken from employees due to increasing number of franchise is
resulting into less employee availability in the restaurant. This weakness is affecting the
service quality.
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 Opportunity :Many opportunities are waiting ahead for the success of McDonald's. Main
opportunity on which McDonald's should focus on is adopting healthier options in its
products. McDonald's is a one of the places that attracts children and youngsters more. So
there is a opportunity to include more interesting games for children to play in the
restaurants. For the growth of the company, McDonald's should open more joint ventures
with several food companies. This step may form an opportunity to get new ideas for
improvisation. McDonald's should open its restaurant in more developed countries to
gain more profit from the products consume by customers. Youngsters of today belongs
to internet generation. So to provide a Wi-Fi facilities in the restaurant can attract the
customers. To adopt creative advertising ideas as others competitor fast food has adopted
can also increase the brand value of the company.
 Threats: Increasing craze of healthy and organic food is the biggest threat for
McDonald's. McDonald's not using healthy and organic food practices is constructing an
opportunity for its rivals (Philip, 2014). Availability of other fast food options in different
food chain companies is also a threat to the McDonald's. Increased competitors with same
products is the biggest threats to McDonald's commercially as well as economically.
Currency variations in world is also threat to the restaurant and affecting the brand.
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Illustration 1: SWOT analysis
Source : (Babin and Zikmund, 2015)

 Political Environment : The government rules and regulation plays an important role in
any organisation to survive. MacDonald's focuses on the effect of the political
environment on its business, by designing its powerful strategic business plan and
policies to lessen the impact of political dynamics like taxation. The organisation has the
opportunities to expand it business based on the improved international trade, which can
enhance global supply chain, also have the opportunities to reform the practices and
strategies to lessen the impact of taxation on the business without violating the law.
Public heath policy and the increasing trends to discourage the people consuming fast
food from the firms like MacDonald's, KFC, Burger king. The company has the
opportunities to address all the external factors affecting the sales of the organisation. The
health and safety of the employees and the customers by providing the fresh and desired
food by the customers of the organisation (Babin, B.J. and et.al., 2015). MacDonald's was
having many illicit employees that were getting minimum wages and were working there
for long hours, to increase the international trade agreements, pending tax reforms and
the evolving public health policies.
 Social Environment : The lifestyle of the people plays an important role in the sales
performance of the product. The organisation here, has the opportunities to grow because
they target the customers who has the income of medium or low households. It has the
more and wide opportunities to fulfil its customers needs according to their taste,
preferences and trends because it has captured a low to medium income group which has
lesser demands. The products are often criticised for having adverse effect on the health
of the customers. Nowadays people are more conscious about their health the result of
which people are diverting towards the diet charts with the concept of having flat belly
(Ebert, R.J. And et.al., 2014). The customer prefer low calories, fat free food which
MacDonald's does not provide and is a major threat for the organisation to let over come
its competitors in market. The organisation should provide healthy food products to beat
its customers and to remain in the market, should over come its all the health issues and
starts providing healthy and calories free food to retain its customers and to make new.
Organisation should keep in mind the cultural values, trends and the norms of the
country.
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 Economic Environment: The economic dynamics are of supreme significance for the
McDonald's, serves several countries. The economic factors like tax rates and inflation
are main factors. Considering these factors, cost of raw materials can be reduced to
reduce overall cost of production. The organisation has opportunities to grow, even
slowly, in United Kingdom which has the biggest market. The organisation has to
consider the effect of the economic environment on its growing business. Running a
business in the local market as well as on the international platform has made it difficult
because the competition in the market is cut throat and it is difficult to get stability in
market. The organisation needs to focus on its productivity according to the demand of
the customers in the present market. The exchange rate and the living standards of the
people also has the major effect in running business successfully and on the productivity
(Wirtz, J. and Lovelock, C.H., 2017).
 Legal Environment: The rules and regulations are always the biggest concern in any
organisation. It is very important for a big organisation like McDonald's to follow the
legal requirements imposed on it. The macro environment is the major factors that
influence the customer in market. Here, the organisation faces the biggest threat of
paying the minimum wages which results in higher prices and costs of the product
(Baines, P., Fill, C. and Page, K., 2013). The regulations and policies for the health and
safety of the employees and the customers plays an important role in the impact of the
food services provided by the organisation. This organisation needs to focus on the legal
requirements of food production as different countries have different rules and
regulations about the food production according to their environment and culture. The
organisation requires legal regulations for the better and faster growth of the products in
each country. Different country prefers different rules like the beef meat is banned in
Indian McDonald's whereas in UK the people are fond of beef and the organisation is
famous mainly for that only so the government has banned the beef to respect the culture
in India.
CONCLUSION
In the above study, the McDonald's is a major fast food chain which provides wide
variety of products to the customers. It has a good brand reputation in the market and they have
applied various marketing strategies to increase their sales. The analysis has defined that the
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products which are produced by the McDonald's are highly preferred by the customers but it still
faces problem in marketing because the content of the products are not good for health. It will
affect the marketing of the company and the firm has applied various strategies to promote the
marketing of the company. Competitors marketing mix is taken in to consideration to compare to
know the effectiveness of the policies of the McDonald's. Evaluation of the marketing is
accomplished for the achievement of marketing objectives. At last, it has been concluded that the
perfect evaluation of marketing is done to resolve the threats by taking effective measures at the
appropriate period.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Babin, B.J. and Zikmund, W.G., 2015. Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.
Baines, P., Fill, C. and Page, K., 2013. Essentials of marketing. Oxford University Press.
Baker, M.J. and Saren, M. eds., 2016. Marketing theory: a student text. Sage.
Bennett, A.G., 2010. The big book of marketing. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Blythe, J., 2012. CIM Course book Marketing Essentials. Routledge.
Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S., 2013. Essential of marketing.
Desai, S.S., 2013. An analysis of the competitive marketing strategies of the hospitality industry
in UAE. IUP Journal of Management Research.12(1). p.22.
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practice settings. McGraw Hill Professional.
Dibb, S. and Simkin, L., 2013. Marketing essentials. Cengage Learning.
Ebert, R.J. And et.al., 2014. Business essentials. Pearson Education Canada.
Gummesson, E., 2011. Total relationship marketing. Routledge.
Koontz, H., 2010. Essentials of management. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Lamb, C.W., Hair, J.F. and McDaniel, C., 2011. Essentials of marketing. Cengage Learning.
Lancaster, G. and Massingham, L., 2010. Essentials of marketing management. Routledge.
Malhotra and et.al., 2013. Essentials of marketing research. Pearson.
Philip, K., 2014. Marketing Essentials. A brief course: Translated from English. Moscow:
“Williams” Publishing House. pp.496.
Pike, S., 2015. Destination Marketing: Essentials. Routledge.
Shukla, P., 2015. Essentials of marketing research. Bookboon.
Terpstra, V., Foley, J. and Sarathy, R., 2012. International marketing. Naper Press.
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William, K., 2012. Essentials of marketing research. London: Cengage Learning.
Wirtz, J. and Lovelock, C.H., 2017. Essentials of services marketing. Pearson Higher Ed.
Online
Service Marketing Mix – 7 P's of marketing, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.marketing91.com/service-marketing-mix/> [Assessed on 11 August 2017]
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