Operations Management: McDonalds and Uber Eats Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive comparison of the operational strategies, customer benefit packages, and value chains of McDonald's and Uber Eats. The report begins with an introduction to customer benefit packages and their significance in operations management, followed by an in-depth analysis of both companies. It explores the tangible and intangible benefits offered by McDonald's, a product-based organization, and Uber Eats, a service-based platform. The analysis includes diagrams illustrating the customer benefit packages of both companies and a detailed comparison highlighting the differences in their approaches. Furthermore, the report examines the value chain of each company, outlining their primary and supporting activities. Finally, the report discusses the operational strategies employed by both McDonalds and Uber Eats, leading to a conclusion and recommendations for improvement. The report utilizes academic references to support its findings.

Running Head: OPERATION MANAGEMENT 1
Operations Management: McDonalds and
Uber Eats

OPERATION MANAGEMENT 2
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Customer Benefit Packages.............................................................................................................3
McDonalds.......................................................................................................................................3
Customer Benefit Package of McDonalds...................................................................................4
Uber Eats.........................................................................................................................................5
Customer Benefit Package of Uber Eats......................................................................................6
Compare and contrast Customer Benefit Packages of McDonalds and Uber Eats.........................7
Value Chain Analysis......................................................................................................................7
Value Chain of McDonalds..........................................................................................................8
Value Chain of Uber Eats............................................................................................................9
McDonalds- Strategies...................................................................................................................11
Uber Eats- Strategies.....................................................................................................................11
Conclusion and Recommendations................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Customer Benefit Package can be defined as the set of tangible (good) and intangible (service)
characteristics which the customer identifies, pays for, utilizes and experiences. Customer benefit
package and value chain are two significant components for each and every business
organization (Aviv, Lariviere, & Terwiesch, 2009). Both of these concepts play an important role
in the operation management process of an organization. The below report compares and
contrasts the customer benefit packages of two organizations, one id service and another is
product based. The companies which are taken into consideration are McDonalds (product
based) and Uber Eats (Service based). Both of the chosen organizations are operating their
business operations in fast food industry. The main goal of this report is to compare the customer
benefit packages and value chain of both companies. Moreover, the report discusses the
operation strategies of both organizations.
Customer Benefit Packages
Customer Benefit Packages plays a vital role in the operations management division of a
company. It includes both tangible and intangible benefits which the customers may have on
their buying. It can be real or perceived value that a customer experiences when one receives
through the deal with a particular organization. When an organization mixes its primary product
with additional products then it is known as a total product. About CBP, it can be stated that it is
the combination of different goods and services that adds value to the primary product of
company which is bought by final consumer (Grönroos, 2007). In this way, each and every
company makes efforts to offer a complete customer benefit package so that it can become
successful in this competitive business environment. It assists in attaining more competitive edge
against its competitors. So, the McDonalds and Uber Eats are providing the primary products and
services with peripheral goods to attain customer loyalty.
McDonalds
McDonalds is one of the leading fast food chains that have started its business operations in the
year 1967. After its establishment in United States, the company expanded its business outside
this country. The company has established its business operations in different nations. Currently,

OPERATION MANAGEMENT 4
it has more than 37000 stores in over 100 countries where 38500 employees are working all over
the world (McDonalds, 2010). The products of this organization include soft drinks, hamburgers,
salads, french-fries, milkshakes, coffee, flavored tea, chicken etc. Moreover, this organization
offers various breakfast items in United States and international markets. Breakfast offerings of
this company include muffins, cookies, biscuits, hotcakes, sandwiches etc. The company has
introduced its products under some specific brands i.e. McNuggets, McFlurry, Big N’Tasty,
McMuffin etc. However, McDonalds has lack of presence on social media platform and online
delivery platforms but now the company has partnered with Uber Eats. The people can receive
the products through online food delivery services of Uber Eats. As a product based
organization, McDonalds is offering a complete customer benefit package to its potential
customers so that it retain them for long term. The customer benefit package of McDonalds is
stated below;
Customer Benefit Package of McDonalds
By looking at the above customer benefit package of McDonalds, it can be stated that primary
product of McDonalds is its fast food product offering such as burgers, shakes, coffee, ice tea,
french-fries etc. The restaurant outlets are serving the fast food products by establishing a
family-friendly environment. In addition to this, primary product of this company includes low
Primary
Goods:
(Burgers,
beverages and
desserts)
Peripheral Goods:
(Breakfast items,
Toys, Wi-Fi and play
place)
Customer benefits:
(developing to
fulfill customer
needs, provide
unique food
experince to every
age, quality food)

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cost meals and speedy service (Yilmaz, Varnali and Kasnakoglu, 2016). Apart from this,
customer benefit package of this company includes the some peripheral goods like Wi-Fi. It offer
free Wi-Fi services to its customers so that they can browse the internet and get their work done
while they eat the food. These peripheral goods force the customers to make the decisions to go
there. It is valuable for them in terms of time and cost saving. This variant of customer benefit
package adds the appeal to mass population and increases per visit spending of customers
towards McDonalds’ products. In the above customers benefit package diagram, different circles
show different products of the company’s offering. The big circle indicates the overall benefits
of company’s products to customers. In order to compete with the Starbucks that is serving the
breakfast to its customers, McDonalds is also making efforts to provide breakfast items to the
potential customers. Breakfast menu of McDonalds is also included in the peripheral services of
McDonalds. In addition to this, McDonalds have incorporated two drive-through lanes to reduce
the waiting time and enhance the customer serving volume (McDonalds, 2012). This idea has
proven better for the company’s operations as its locations are in high traffic areas. The
effectiveness of customer benefit package of McDonalds can be analyzed by looking at the
increased number of customers.
Uber Eats
Uber Eats is an online food delivery organization that was founded in United States of America.
This online platform was introduced by Uber in the year 2014 and headquartered in San
Francisco, California. This organization operates its business very effectively by partnering with
different restaurants. Till now, it has partnered with various food outlets in dozens of cities all
over the world. At this platform, the people can order their food on Uber Eats’ website or with
the smartphone application. After ordering process, its website shows a delivery time of 30
minutes or lesser. Its locations offer lunch, breakfast, and brunch and dinner menus. From them,
some of locations are open for 24*7. The food is delivered by the couriers using bikes, cars or on
foot (Uber Eats, 2018).
Depending on cities, people can log on to deliver the food order for Uber Eats platform by the
use of bike, car, and scooter or on foot. These delivery partners have the opportunity to earn the
money for every delivery trip on the basis of number of trips and the distance between drop
location and food outlet. There are various well-established fast food chains which are partnered

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with the Uber Eats and delivering the food to potential customers. An enhancing customer base
of McDonalds do not just want low cost fast food products but they want their food to be
delivered at their door (Grant, 2016). This is the major reason that McDonalds has partnered with
the Uber Eats and it is offering its products through Uber Eats. Delivery through Uber Eats is
now available in 5000 stores out of McDonalds’ 37000 locations.
Customer Benefit Package of Uber Eats
The above given diagram includes the customer benefit package for Uber Eats Organization that
is offering online food ordering and delivery services to a large group of population worldwide.
The primary services of Uber Eats are to take the food orders of customers, to pick their order
from respective restaurant and finally delivery it to the potential customers. Apart from this,
other services are peripheral services at Uber Eats (Al Abid, and Karim, 2014). It has created its
application and website with innovative technology so that customer can track the progress of
order through its application. It has partnered with the restaurants and delivery partners. The
people who do not want to go outside of for eating have facility to order variety of food through
its application and website. Furthermore, it has set the delivery charges according to the location
of customers. From the above diagram, it can be stated that customer benefit package is good for
On-time delivery
Partnership with well-known
restaurants
Fulfillment of customer needs
and wants
Order tracking system
Easy-to-use platform
Smart Phone Applications and
website
Delivery charges depending on the
locations
Online Food
ordering and
delivery services

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the customers. It can assist the organization in gaining more competitive advantage over its
competitors (Slack, 2015).
Compare and contrast Customer Benefit Packages of McDonalds and
Uber Eats
However, both of the organizations i.e. McDonalds and Uber Eats are running their business
operations in food and restaurant industry but nature of their working are different. McDonalds is
the organization that is offering physical products to the customers while Uber Eats is offering
food delivery services to its potential customers. There are some differences in the customer
benefit packages of both the organizations. The above given diagrams show the customer benefit
packages of McDonalds and Uber Eats Organizations. McDonalds has mainly focused on
enhancing the quality of its food products (Rothaermel, 2015). The company is making efforts to
deliver its fast food products on lower prices than its competitors. Moreover, its focuses on
providing a unique eating experience to the customers. It has enabled the organization in gaining
more competitive edge over its competitors such as Burger King, Burger Farm etc.
In contrast to this, Uber Eats is a service organization that is providing food ordering and
delivery services. The customer benefit package of this organizations shows that the major focus
on this organization is on improving food delivery to the customers. They only focus on
delivering food on time so that they can retain existing customers and create new customers. The
people at Uber Eats do not focus on the quality of food as it is the responsibility of restaurant
partners (Uber Eats, 2018). The customer benefit package of the organization indicates that
peripheral services of Uber Eats will also assist the organization in expanding its business all
over the world. From the comparison, it can be stated that customer benefit package of
McDonalds is totally focused on its fast food products whereas Uber Eat’s is focused on
delivering food on displayed time.
Value Chain Analysis

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Value Chain of McDonalds
For a company, it is significant to establish an effective value chain so that it can become
successful in the industry (Mudambi and Puck, 2016). The below-given table shows the value
chain design of McDonalds:
Primary Activities:
Inbound Logistics Operations Outbound
Logistics
Marketing and
Sales
Service
 This organization
purchases the
vegetables and other
raw materials from
its pre-defined
suppliers.
 The organization has
used the backward
vertical integration.
 The organization
has established a
speedy kitchen.
 It does not have
more equipment
in its kitchen.
 Online food
delivery through
Uber Eats (New,
2015)
 It is committed
to offering
quality food
products to its
customers.
 Welcoming and
clean
environment
 Sustainable
packaging and
waste
management
 The
organization
has developed
an extensive
advertising
campaign
(Bhasin,
2016).
 Television,
Newspaper and
social media
 Events and
sponsorships
 Quality food
offering
 Free Wi-Fi
services
 Offers and
discounts
 Gift cards to
regular
customers
Supporting Activities:
The below-given diagram shows the supporting activities of McDonalds Organization:

OPERATION MANAGEMENT 9
The above diagrams show that McDonalds has created an effective value chain. It has well-
trained and qualified staff and it has adopted technology innovations. The company has created
its mobile app that provides online food ordering services to customers. It is attracting more
employment by providing them flexible working hours. Supporting and primary activities of the
company are supporting organization in generating more revenues and profits than its
competitors. The above table shows its primary activities which play an important role in the
growth and success of organization (Mahadevan, 2009).
Value Chain of Uber Eats
As an online platform, Uber Eats has established its value chain design effectively. It includes
both primary and supporting activities. The value chain analysis of the company is given below;
Primary Activities
Input Operations Outbound
Logistics
Marketing and
Sales
Service
 The organization
traces the order from
application and picks
thee order from food
 The operations at
Uber Eats are
effective
designed.
 It is committed
to offering food
delivery service
on time.
 The
organization is
engaged in
advertising and
 Food delivery
services
 On-time
delivery
Supporting activities Human Resources
highly qualified staff
Flexible working
hours
Supporting Activities Technology
Technology and
innovation
IT Support deal with
Fujitsu
Supporting Activities Infrastructure
Eco-friendly
restaurants and
workplaces
focused on green
activities

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outlets (Russell, &
Taylor, 2011).
 Partnerships with
restaurants
 Development of
website and
application
 Picking and
delivering the
food to final
customers
 Effective
packaging
 Well-trained
delivery
partners.
promotion.
 Referral
amount on first
order
 Discounts and
cash back
offers (Yu, et
al, 2015)
 Maintenance
of website and
application.
Supporting Activities:
Supporting Activities of Uber Eats are incorporated in the below-diagram:
Both of the above diagrams show the value chain analysis of Uber Eats Organization. The
supporting activities at Uber Eats are assisting its primary activities to deliver the products
successfully. By using this value chain, company can increase its customer base and attain
increased revenues in competitive business environment.
Supporting
activities Human Resources
Qualified staff
customer-friendly
delivery partners
Supporting
Activities technology
Highly updated
technology for
order generation
Supporting
Activities Infrastructure
Maintenance of
website and
application

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From the above analysis, the value chain analysis of both companies can be compared easily. It
can be said that supporting activities play an important role in the case of McDonalds as it needs
to develop an effective infrastructure and human resources. In the case of Uber Eats, technology
plays a crucial role as their business is totally focused on online platform. Primary activities are
more significant for McDonalds than Uber Eats (Russell, & Taylor, 2011). The value chain of
both the companies is advantageous for their business operations.
McDonalds- Strategies
The vision statement of McDonalds Organization is to become the best quick service food outlet.
At McDonalds, becoming the best means offering service, value and excellent quality of food.
The organization is implementing an effective operations strategy that includes effective quality
management, just-in-time production and effective product design. Under its operations strategy,
the major focus of this firm is on providing excellent product quality on lowest prices in the
industry (Wynn, et al, 2016). It is using effective techniques to enhance the service quality and
customer’s food experience.
The competitive priorities of McDonalds are offering the excellent quality at lower prices. It is
enabling the organization to stay competitive in fast food industry.
Uber Eats- Strategies
The vision statement of Uber Eats is to offer the dishes and recipes to customers from their
favorite restaurants all over the cities. Uber Eats has implemented an effective operations
strategy so that it can offer its services effectively (Netessine, & Christopher, 2009). The
organization has made focus on training its delivery partners so that they can deliver the food
products on time. Operations of the company are run through its website and application so it is
focusing on maintenance of app and website.
The competitive priority of Uber Eats is to provide food delivery without any delay. It is also
offering flexibility by extending its working and delivery hours.

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Conclusion and Recommendations
Moreover, it is hereby recommended that organizations need to focus on their operations
management. The companies should try to become more innovative in their product and service
offerings. As a product based organization, McDonalds should partner with other food delivery
apps such as Foodpanda, Swiggy etc. By doing this, it can increase its customer base. To
enhance operations, the company should provide training to its staff so that it can deal with the
visitors effectively. Uber Eats should establish its physical stores so that customers can contact in
the situation of any delivery issue. The customer care support should be effective as it will have
positive impact on the customers’ buying decision. In this way, companies can enhance their
operations management and it will be good for organizational success. From the above report, it
can be concluded that both the organization are providing a complete customer benefit package
but in different manner. The major reason behind this difference is their nature of work like one
company is offering products and another one is offering services in similar sector.