Analyze Business Research Articles

The assignment, sourced from various academic publications and textbooks on business research methods, marketing, statistics, and related fields, focuses on understanding and applying essential concepts to conduct effective business research. Key topics include designing research projects (Wilson, 2014), using statistical analysis (Jaggia et al., 2016; Zikmund et al., 2013), applying marketing principles (Malhotra et al., 2013; Menegaki, 2012; Mihart, 2012), understanding consumer behavior and decision-making processes (Lipsman et al., 2012; Weaver, 2011), evaluating financial aspects (Weaver, 2011), and exploring ethical considerations in business (Woiceshyn, J., 2011). Additionally, the assignment encourages the use of practical resources like a marketing plan template available online.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Roles and responsibilities of marketing function of McDonald's.........................................1
P2. Roles and responsibilities of marketing related to McDonald’s...........................................4
P3. Different ways in which marketing mix of McDonald's and Burger King are applied to
planning to achieve business goals.............................................................................................6
P4 Marketing plan for McDonald's...........................................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Market is considered as place where the sellers and buyers meet and conduct the process
of exchange of product and services in order to gain profit and earn their livelihood. Thus these
two elements carry out all the business activities. In today's era, market place has been modified
and there are various tools and techniques which are being used to carry out the business process.
Elements like promotion for sales, marketing and many other are necessity for the company in
order to gain the competitive advantage in the market place (Anderson And et. al., 2014).
Company chosen for this report is McDonald's which was is an multinational fast food chain
who is handling their operations worldwide. This company was established back in 1940 by
Richard and Maurice McDonald in USA. This company is one of the largest fast food chain
retailers who are supplying their products almost in every country. This reports contain the roles
and responsibilities for the analysation of business. Apart from that comparison is being made
which is related to marketing mix like McDonald's and Burger kings which are competitor firms.
Marketing plans are related with segmentation, targeting and positioning of products which is
helpful in satisfying the needs and wants of the customers in order to gain aims and objectives of
the firm in effective manner.
TASK 1
P1. Roles and responsibilities of marketing function of McDonald's
Marketing can be defined as set of action that deals in promoting or advertising various
product or services among potential customer. It is a social process which is used by business
enterprise to satisfy the needs and wants of consumer through exchanging and creating value.
Companies use marketing tool in order to build strong relationship with its customer and retain
them for longer period (Blumberg, Cooper and Schindler, 2014). Marketing process is
responsible identifying, exchanging, communicating delivering and satisfying the needs of
customer by generating profit for the firm as well. Following are the roles and responsibilities of
Marketing which are described below:
Marketing Information System: MIS helps in decision making process of a company by
identifying the needs and wants of the target customer. It can be defined as a system which
records, analysed and distribute the data to managers related to the customer preferences on
frequent basis. According to Jobber, MIS assess the information related to marketing and collect
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data from both external and internal sources that supports the organisation in making effective
decision related to particular product. McDonald is considering small children and youth as their
target market. In-fact they have introduced new promotional method that attracts their target
customer (Cobanoglu, Berezina and Erdem, 2011). For instance, they are providing Happy Meal
to its consumer which includes soft toys that further attracts the small children to buy such Meal.
McDonald's 10% total sales is increased with this new innovative technique. Apart from that,
they keeps on changing the menu as per the latest demand of customer.
Product and Service Management: It can be defined as a marketing function which focuses on
obtaining, maintaining, generating and enhancing the service or product mix concerning various
marketing opportunities. McDonald's provides wide range of product to its potential customer in
the form of burgers, french fries, milk shake, wrap, dessert and breakfast meal. They also provide
service in the form of take away, home-delivery and self-service (Engemann and Henderson,
2011).
Financing: It involves how company arrange their capital or funding through external sources in
order to meet various financial expenses related to the firm. Every enterprise requires adequate
funding to operates their working capital smoothly (Hair and et. al., 2011). There are different
ways in which an organisation can adopt effective financial assistance through external sources
such as shareholders, bank, angle investors etc. McDonald's are handling their funds by own as
they fall under the category of single business proprietor and capitalist who are expert in dealing
financial issues effectively and efficiently.
Promotion: This tool is used by different business enterprise to advertise their product or
services among potential buyer. Various Promotional methods helps to attract the attention of
customer and influence them to buy particular product. It can be done through advertising,
personal selling, publicity, sales promotion and direct marketing. McDonald's is attracting their
target customer by providing them special offers, discounts, coupon code, online deals etc. which
generates curiosity among them to buy that product. McDonald is also using digital media tool to
advertise their product (Guffey and Loewy, 2012). Recently, McDonald has created its own
Facebook page and YouTube channel which is extremely popular among younger generation.
McDonald involved themselves in large event which results in building strong brand image and
implement positive message.
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Product Distribution: It refers to the chain of intermediaries which help the organisation to
deliver their goods and services to end consumer. It compromises of retailers, wholesalers,
distributors, sales agent etc. According to Brunce, Distribution channel includes all logistics and
supply chain management that has been used by firm to deliver their product or services at right
place and at right time (Hair and et. al., 2011). McDonald's are require to design their supply
chain in such a way that effectively and efficiently deliver their goods and service to consumers
who actually need it. Currently McDonald's is operating their business in more than 130
countries which gives the benefit of enjoying strong brand image. McDonald's generates 45% of
total revenue through their Franchisees, spread all across the globe.
Pricing: Setting right price for goods and services which consumer is willing to pay can comes
out as a challenge for various business organisation. Firms are required to set price which
generates value for their product. If prices are high, there might be chances that customer may
shift to other brand offering same product but at low price. Therefore, before finalising final
price companies are required to do effective research such as critically analyse the price of their
competitor who are offering same product but at low price. They can check the trend of their
price affecting the buyers buying decision. Also company can opt for tail and error method in
which they set the right price but gradually (Hair, 2015). McDonald's are using the concept of
price bundling by displaying the prices of different product at a place which customer can easily
access. They are offering Happy Meal to its customer which creates value for their money. Also
the McDonald's are using psychological pricing where the range of product starts from 9$ which
serves as an economical price for people to pay.
Risk Taking: Risk refers to the uncertainty that a company faces during the course of their
normal operating activities. It can be in the form of financial risk, product risk, rival risk which a
company deals with. In order to avoid such risk factors, McDonald's are require to make
effective plan which help them to deal with unforeseen contingencies. Here McDonald's can face
risk in the form food causing health problem to its customer, higher competitiveness level,
obesity problem etc. which affects the buying pattern of customer. McDonald's has its own
grievances handling department which deals with the issues related to the customer and satisfy
them by providing them corrective measures so as to retain them for longer period. For instance,
they can provide nutritious and health food to consumer who are having problem related with
obesity (Hsu, 2011).
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Selling: It is considered as a core function of marketing which deals in providing goods and
services to consumer who actually needs it (Inoué, S., 2013). The main objective of selling is to
provide product or services to its potential buyer that satisfies their demand and also earn higher
sales and profit for the firm. McDonald's is selling their 15000 product in more than 130
countries all across the globe.
P2. Roles and responsibilities of marketing related to McDonald’s
Business operations are carried out effectively with the help of delegating roles and
responsibilities so that goals and objectives of the firm can be achieved in effective manner.
Delegation and assigning some critical responsibilities makes an individual accountable and
achieve those by giving high performance for the objectives. For the growth and success of the
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McDonald's, managers plays an essential role in which they perform different tasks and activities
which is related to the betterment of the firm (Jacobs and Chase, 2013). In order to identify the
business process and its appropriate functions, roles and responsibilities plays a vital role.
In order to complete all the tasks and objectives, business firm generally divides those
tasks and activities into smaller form. Therefore, various departments are formed which complete
their respective duties and they are like marketing, finance, HR, I.T and many others who are
interrelated to each other while even performing their respective duties. Human resource
department basically focus on the welfare of existing employees and hiring new one for the
vacant positions in order to carry out activities without hampering the work (Jaggia and et. al.,
2016). Their main functions are like recruitment, selection, training and development of the staff
members. Just like human resources have their respective jobs to perform, other departments also
perform according to their assigned duties like finance department has to look out to the funds
and investment for various purposes.
Furthermore, it can be explained by the help of example that all the departments are
interrelated to each other. Lets make it more simpler by an example: marketing Department of
the McDonald's has to conduct a campaign regarding their products and services to a different
country and for that they need the help of finance department because high funds are required in
order to organise those campaigns successfully (Kongstvedt, 2012). This also helps out in
maintaining the healthy relationship among all the departments within the firm.
The areas of functions which are related to the McDonald's are:
In order to determine and organise the various strategies, research and development department
and its activities are being considered so that business operations can be conducted in effective
manner for the growth and success of the firm. Moreover it is highly important for the
McDonald's to provide effective services to the customers so that their satisfaction level can be
at maximum level and thus they can establish long period relationships along with the loyalty.
Satisfied customers helps firm to achieve their respective goals and objectives of the firm in
effective manner (Lipsman and et. al., 2012). In McDonald's , they place their stores in such
manner and such place that their products can be consumed by the consumers in ease way. This
is helpful from the point of view of customers because it is easy for them to consume the
products without making any hard efforts.
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There are various tools and techniques which are used by the company in order to gain
the competitive advantage in the market place and those tools and techniques are includes selling
personally, sales promotion, advertisement and many others. These all are basically used for
promoting the products and services of the company and thus improve the sales graph. If the
efficient measures are being taken in order to promote the products and services of the cited
enterprise then they are aidful in attaining growth and success of the organisation by
improvement in sales (Malhotra and et. al., 2013). There are various roles and responsibilities of
marketing functions are as follows:
Market Research: By the help of several kinds of marketing activities, all these research are
being conducted. Research an development team analyse the market and its current trends along
with the actual desires and demands of the customer and the products which they are using to
fulfil those desires. Thus it helps McDonald's to analyse the taste of customers and the position
of their products consumption within marketplace (Menegaki, 2012). The modification and
development depends on the analysation which is done on the demand of market. Those changes
in product can lead the firm to acquire the large part of the marketplace by attracting large group
of customers. So this way it can be said that research helps company to make better in the
context of products and services along with the market position.
Product Development: There are various steps which needs to be fulfilled when making up a
new product like analysation of the market needs to be done so that it can be determined that
what kind of product can be invented and in case of McDonald's what kind of food item can be
made with unique taste so that more customers can be attracted towards that new products. In
modern market, taste and demand are two elements which are changing on rapid speed and due
to that it is highly required to innovate development or new products in the market so that
competitive advantage can be gained (Mihart, 2012). McDonald's is able to innovate new taste
and launch new product in the marketplace in order to gain the market acquisition.
Sales: Selling is something very precious to every firm who is present in the marketplace. It is a
major activity or can be said as a channel through which company deliver their products in
aspect of some value. More consumption of the products, more will be the growth of the firm in
market place. The higher the sales the wide will be the criteria of development. In order to
improve the sales ratio, there is a general way by which it can be attained and that is analysing
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the actual needs and wants of the customers and thus satisfying them in effectual manner
(Ormrod, 2014).
Communication: It is highly required by the firm to maintain the effective communication skills
so that their message can be delivered to every customers who is related to them in some or other
way. Communication funnel is highly important for both internal and external factors. Effective
communication in internal factors leads to share the vital information among the staff members
and externally it helps to deliver the products along with the message (Prewitt, Weil and
McClure, 2011). Communication funnel is also required to determine the actual needs and wants
and getting the actual feedbacks from the customers in order to encourage the growth and
success.
Segmentation: It is a process in which the big tasks are being divided into small parts so that they
can be achieved in effectual manner. Segmentation provides various advantages like they help in
identifying the actual wants and needs of the customers as per their desires. Another advantage
can be that segmentation helps in targeting the market and thus grab the loyalty of the customer
by satisfying their needs. This methodology is mainly useful and successful in the large group of
population who got different choices and different mindsets (Weaver, 2011). It becomes difficult
to manage the large group and identify each and every customer present in that group, so small
group of customers are made and it becomes easy to determine their purchasing power and
buying behaviour.
P3. Different ways in which marketing mix of McDonald's and Burger King are applied to
planning to achieve business goals
Marketing mix is basically the 7 elements which are the most important component of the
business specially while taking any major decision. Those 7 elements are products, place, price,
promotion, process, people and physical evidence. These will be described as under:
Products: In order to satisfy the needs and wants of the customer, various things are
manufactured and thus they are called products. In modern scenario, company focus on quality
of products and along with that they take several measures to make the packaging of product
more attractive. This can be done with the help of effective branding, way of packing and
labelling them so that it can draw the attention of customers. Basically every product is designed
with the purpose of meeting the customer demands just like McDonald's manufacture eatable
items in order to fulfil the hungriness of the people in budgeted prices. Company while designing
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the product keeps the deep study with them so that they can form the product in that manner
where the customers will be happy to consume them. In context of McDonald's, before launching
products in India they did a deep research and found the different consumption o0f fast food
items like beef is prohibited as it is against their rituals so they manufactured according to that
point (West, 2012). Modifications are done according to the changing taste and demands and this
make the company to expand their products in effectual manner.
Prices: It is the cost or the value of product at which it can be made available in the
market for the consumption. Price of a product is mainly decided by several factors and among
them there are two factors which lead the changes in price and that are: first one is the actual cost
of the product in which manufacturing is being done and secondly the prices which are being
offered by the competitors like Burger farm, KFC and many others. Prices should be made
according to the budget if the products are not considered under luxury products. Various tag
lines can be used in order to attract and change the perception of other customers who are having
different products like McDonald's is using “I am Loving It” tag line to attract the customers and
changing their perception as per their products (Wilson, 2014). Apart from that they have been
using effective strategies like introducing happy hour meal where the prices are low for every
product and combo packs in order to improve sales of the organisation.
Place: It is an approach which states the locations from which the distribution of products
and services takes place. It also includes the distribution channel and outlets of the organisation.
To gain the competitive advantage it is highly required to provide the services at the right place
and right time when they are required by the potential customers. Company should look out for
the quality products while providing them to the customers because the more good quality the
more will be the satisfaction level (Woiceshyn, 2011). Another attractive points can be like
providing free Wi-Fi services to the customers while they are eating in the outlet. Another point
can be that things which attract the small children like toys, balloon and many other can be used
for attraction.
Promotion: In order to make communication skills effectual it is highly require to make
and adopt appropriate strategies. There are various types of strategies which can be adopted like
public relations, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing etc. These kind of strategies
are bing used by every company including McDonald's so that high competitive advantage can
be gained (Zikmund and et. al., 2013). These kind of strategies are useful in integration of
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various communication channel so that along with the products message can be delivered to the
customers and whenever the new offers and discounts are being launched, these kind of news
can be deliverer to them and therefore it can attract the large amount of customer's in effective
manner.
People: When a business process grow and achieve the success, the main cause behind is the
people who are working in it with focus on attaining the common goals and people who are
outside promoting and consuming the products. If there is comfortable environment created in
the organisation then there are chances that performance level of employees will improve and
thus it will help them to satisfy the customer in better manner. There are certain plans and
strategies made for the external factors of the company and to make them work effective it is
required to make effective plans for internal factors regarding all the promotional tools. There
are internal plans for the company which are related to the human resources like recruiting and
selecting the best candidate for the company and thus providing them appropriate training and
development in order to make them familiar with environment and working ethics of the
organisation (Marketing Plan. 2016.). There main focus is on serving the customers with the best
quality product and satisfying their needs and wants of the customers. This will lead to
establishment of positive environment which are useful in making staff members comfortable
and thus enables them to perform smarter in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the
organisation.
Process: Around the globe the manufacturing process of food is almost same. The
machines and other techniques used for making a food item is always same in all the outlets. In
simple words, the structure and process of delivering the products to the customers is same in
every outlet of McDonald's. In various part of the world, there are different languages spoken
and thus according to that menu of the food item which will be served is designed so that easy
interaction can take place between the customer and organisation (Anderson And et. al., 2014).
This enable the company to reach at higher position in competitive market and also attract large
amount of customers by interactive process.
Physical Evidence: It is related with the physical locations of stores. The sitting
arrangements and clean facilities for the customers who are eating in the outlets and the products
which are provided should be hygienic in nature so that customers can be satisfied in effectual
manner. Extra services can be provided like making separate areas for the small events like
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birthday parties or the promotional parties and many more. This kind of unique services can be
provided to the customers (Blumberg, Cooper and Schindler, 2014). McDonald's have a unqiue
feature while providing services to the customers and that is greeting every customer with a
smile so that positive vibes can be spread around and customer can feel much more friendly
environment in the outlet. This will help in establishing effective relationship and will bring the
loyalty towards the organisation. Another promotional activity is that it provides free toys with
the meal of small children.
Marketing mix of Burger King
Product It is an essential part of the firm which aids them to analyse the
performance level of business. There are similar kind of fast food
services which are provided by the burger king like fries, hash browns,
chicken nougats, salads and other beverages. Various policies are
being adopted by the company which differentiate them from the other
companies. In order to improve the profit ratio and attract the large
amount of customers, there are various types of strategies made so that
expected outcomes can be achieved (Cobanoglu, Berezina and Erdem,
2011).
Price Effective prices of products attract the customers and that is why
every company has different price policy. Burger king has adopted
different price strategy so that their profits can be improved. There are
various products which are launched according to the taste and season
like in summer different kind of mock-tails are being launched
according to the taste and demand (Engemann and Henderson, 2011).
Better services are being provided to the customers in order to attract
them.
Place In this kind of element, there are various kind of places on which the
different services and products are being provided. Outlets should be
opend to the place where there is large market and is populated so that
more customers can use their products and thus can improve their
sales ratio. Business process is mainly increased by various tools and
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techniques like providing franchisee, signage and equipments. They
purchase the places like building on rent so that they can provide
service to the potential buyers (Guffey and Loewy, 2012).
Promotion In order to attract the large amount of customers, there are various
kind of strategies which are being made for this purpose. Mainly
teenagers are being targetted to improve the sales. Apart from that
there are several things are done like at the entrance, there is a LED
TV which makes the customers aware about the products and services
provided to the customers (Hair and et. al., 2011). There are various
promotional tools used for promotion like television, newspapers,
online websites and magazines and many more.
People People are considered as the valuable resources of the firm.
Candidates who have the abilities and skills which are required by the
firm are being appointed so that their performance level can be high.
Chefs who have high experience are generally appointed because they
can work according to the changing taste of the customers (Inoué,
2013).
Process Majorly those segments are being focused in which people are
spending more amount of money in fast food industry.
Physical evidence They have been expanding their business across the globe and they are
designing their stores in such way that more and more amount of
customers are getting attracted.
P4 Marketing plan for McDonald's
McDonald's is a fast food chain retail Industry which has around 30000 stores in over 120
countries (Jaggia and et. al., 2016). This is one of the largest food chain industry. Marketing plan
is one of the important task for the organisation which assists in improving the profitability and
productivity and marketing plan is described below:
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Mission: The main mission of this company is to be the favourite place for the customer in
which they will get the higher standard quality, service, cleanliness and value every time. They
provide platform of opportunities for the growth and development of people.
Vision: To be the best in providing fast and cheap fats food services where support is being
provided by policies and principles.
Marketing Statement of McDonald's: Company mainly focuses on the customer satisfaction
and their perception towards the better quality services and products. McDonald's is one of the
largest company who basically targets the teenagers and youth who believes in fast and cheap
food to eat.
SWOT Analysis
Strength
 It is present worldwide and has huge impact on the competitive level.
 Leader in the national and international market.
 Better utilisation of economy regarding cost reduction.
 High revenue generating and possess large market goodwill.
Weaknesses
 Increment in market saturation which is hard for McDonald's.
 Product innovation is slow in nature.
 High competitive market development.
Opportunities
 making outlets more attractive for the first time users and even existing ones as well
 Untouched countries can be covered up according to the economic condition.
 Product innovation can be done in order to acquire more customers
Threats
 Alteration into global economy.
 Currency fluctuation change into various countries has made impact on the business in
negative manner.
Target Market: To identify the nature of the prestigious customers who got high purchasing
power in the economy is good for business. This can be done on the basis of choice finding,
culture etc.
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Marketing budget: It is made by identifying the terms and policies which is used by the
McDonald's. Finance department plays major role in achieving all the roles and responsibilities.
Budget can be changed if there is any latest technology is adopted because it is flexible in nature.
Monitoring: The focused area of the McDonald's is adopting various strategies regarding price
in order change the necessary requirements. Effectual management of supply for resolving issues
which are faced by enterprise and thus achievement of gaols and objectives.
CONCLUSION
From above mentioned assignment, it has been comprehended that it is required for an
organisation to do marketing of their goods and services; therefore, they can enhance their sales
as well as profits. To promote their items they can use many tools and techniques which will be
beneficial for them. Marketing division of company has to accomplish their roles as well as
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Illustration 1: Marketing Budget of McDonald's

duties; therefore, they can easily sort out issues which are facing by them and will take
competitive benefits from their contenders. To done entire task in an effective way, manager will
formulate an adequate plan and will modify it as per requirements. Apart from all of this, they
have improve their operational activities which will assist them to attain their coveted targets
within limited period of time. By making appropriate budget plan, firm will control their
unwanted expenditures.
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