Competition Between McDonald's and Burger King

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Assignment 2
1. The two leading companies which are in direct competition with each other are
McDonald’s and Burger King. The rivalry between the two eating joints has come down
to one item – the hamburger (Harris, 2015).
Company Profile – McDonalds
In 1940, Dick and Mac McDonald opened the first eating joint of what would today
become the massive chain that it is. The restaurant, McDonald’s Bar-B-Q, opened up a
typical drive through in California. In 1954, a salesman by the name of Ray Kroc
acquired the franchise of McDonalds so as to continue to spread its business operations
worldwide. McDonald’s Corporation incorporated in 1964, currently owns and operates
McDonalds. These restaurants serve a menu of food items which is relevant to the local
cuisine. Today, the company has more than 36,000 joints in a 100 countries, the latest
being opened in 2016 in Kazakhstan. According to the company official website, their
values are responsible leadership, inclusiveness, progressiveness, and local integration. A
new growth strategy was introduced in 2017 by the name of the Velocity Growth Plan
and the key pillars of this growth strategy are – retain, regain and convert. Its net worth as
of March 2019 is $142.97B.
Company Profile – Burger King
Burger King, founded in 1954 by Dave Edgerton and James McLamore, is the second
largest fast food hamburger chain and the biggest competitor to McDonalds. It provides a
vast variety of products through its wholly owned subsidiary – Burger King Corp. The
eating joint offers hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, French fries among other food items.
The brand’s values are commitment to premium ingredients, signature recipes and a
family – friendly dining experience. In 2010, 3G Capital, a multimillion dollar
investment firm purchased Burger King making it a privately held company. It currently
serves more than 11 million global consumers.
2. If I were the manager of one of these hamburger joints – either McDonalds or Burger
King – I would adopt the Penetration Pricing policy. In this policy, the prices of the new
products being launched are set low initially. Once the customers have become
accustomed to these new items, then the price is increased. The company, in this way,