SWOT Analysis of McDonald's

This essay attempts a SWOT analysis of one of the largest fast food chains of the world, McDonalds. It discusses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company.

Running head: SWOT ANALYSIS OF MCDONALD'S
SWOT ANALYSIS OF MCDONALD'S
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SWOT ANALYSIS OF MCDONALD'S
McDonald’s is a well-known fast food chain that has been operating in several
international locations all over the world. The company is known to have been founded in the
year 1940 and is headquartered in the city of Chicago in Illinois (Mcdonalds.com, 2019). The
fast food chain is known to have been operating all over the world out of 37241 restaurants
across 120 countries and provide employment to over 235000 people (Mcdonalds.com, 2019).
The following essay attempts a SWOT analysis of one of the largest fast food chains of the
world, McDonalds.
Strengths
The major strengths of the fast food chain lie in the fact that the company is the second
largest company in the world to provide restaurant services. The company is known to contribute
to the economy of the country due to the higher amount of the sales that is maintained by the
company. The company is known to have shared the fixed costs over several restaurants thereby
making itself to be one of the cheapest places for eating. The company is also known to
implement the best practices that are presented within the organization. Mor et al. (2018) state
that this helps in the retention of the staff within the organization as well as helps in motivating
the employees of the organization to contribute more towards the improvement of the concerned
organization in the international as well as the various global markets. The company is observed
to have been holding the power over the suppliers of the organization due to the huge size of the
company. The target audience of the company in discussion is wide in nature thereby helping the
company to have a larger client base.
Weaknesses

2SWOT ANALYSIS OF MCDONALD'S
The major weakness of the company lies in the fact that the company has been marketing
products that generally belong to the category of the fast foods. The majority of the people in the
present times are observed to have been more inclined towards the healthier life styles (Christian
and Gereffi, 2018). Thus, the company is observed to have not been maintaining an alignment
with the patterns that are being followed on a larger scale within the organization. The company
also faces a weakness due to the lower range of the food options that are provided to the
vegetarians. The popularity of the food chain has resulted in the conditions wherein people can
be found waiting in large queues outside the stores (Zhu et al., 2017). The lack of the proper
management in the dealing with the clientele of the organization might pose to be a greater
weakness for the concerned organization.
Opportunities
The company in discussion is known to have been facing a huge number of opportunities
in the development of the factors that are helpful in the overall performance of the company. The
company might find an opportunity in the marketing of the vegan burgers and the other options
for the vegetarian food. This would help them to attract the customers who tend to have been
accustomed to the vegan food. The company might also be advised to introduce options of
variety to the normal potato fries that are marketed by the company (Genoveva and Siam, 2017).
The company might also implement the McDonald Cafes in the United Kingdom. This would
help the company to attract the clientele who are known to be coffee lovers. This would also help
in the introduction of variety within the menu that is being served by the famous fast food chain
of the world, McDonalds. The company might also introduce the variety in the coffee drinks
(Wheelen et al., 2017). This in turn might help the better generation of the revenue through the
improvement in the client base of the company.

3SWOT ANALYSIS OF MCDONALD'S
Threats
The threats of the company in discussion, McDonalds are observed to arise due to the
competition from the other fast food chains that have been active in the given markets. The
company might also face the threats due to the change in the livelihoods of the clientele of the
company. This might lead to the higher levels of the tax that are imposed on the company which
in turn would lead to the hike in the pricing of the products that are being marketed by the
company (Mathe-Soulek et al., 2016). This in turn might have a negative impact on the
organization due to the rise in the prices of the products.
In lieu of the above discussion, it might be stated that the concerned fast food chain in
discussion has been holding a better position within the international markets despite a number
of threats that the company has been facing. The company is advised to pay major attention to
the resolution of the threats and the improvement of the weaknesses in order to improve the
competitive advantage of the company in the given market.

4SWOT ANALYSIS OF MCDONALD'S
References
Christian, M. and Gereffi, G., (2018). Fast-Food Value Chains and Childhood Obesity: A Global
Perspective. In Pediatric Obesity (pp. 717-730). Humana Press, Cham.
Genoveva, G. and Siam, S.T., (2017). Analysis of marketing strategy and competitive
advantage. Journal of Economic & Management Perspectives, 11(1), pp.1571-1579.
Mathe-Soulek, K., Krawczyk, M., Harrington, R.J. and Ottenbacher, M., (2016). The impact of
price-based and new product promotions on fast food restaurant sales and stock prices. Journal
of food products marketing, 22(1), pp.100-117.
Mcdonalds.com (2019). McDonald’s UK: Burgers, Fries, Salads & More. Quality Ingredients.
[online] Mcdonalds.com. Available at: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb.html [Accessed 9
Mar. 2019].
Mor, R.S., Bhardwaj, A. and Singh, S., (2018). A structured-literature-review of the supply chain
practices in dairy industry. Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management, 11(1), pp.14-
25. DOI: 10.12660/joscmv11n1p14-25
Wheelen, T.L., et al., (2017). Strategic management and business policy (p. 55). Boston:
Pearson.
Zhu, L., Anagondahalli, D. and Zhang, A., (2017). Social media and culture in crisis
communication: McDonald’s and KFC crises management in China. Public Relations
Review, 43(3), pp.487-492. DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.03.006