Disruptive Innovation and Technology Strategies at McDonald's

This report examines the disruptive innovation strategies and technological integration within McDonald's, a leading global fast-food chain. It explores how the company has transformed its operations from a small barbecue restaurant to a global fast-food giant through continuous innovation and technology upgrades, including the adoption of the internet and mobile devices. The report delves into the significance of disruptive innovation in various departments, such as food safety and product quality. It also discusses McDonald's approach to business sustainability, emphasizing the importance of managing ecological, economic, and societal impacts. Furthermore, it highlights emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and their role in enhancing services, maintaining a competitive edge, and fostering sustainable practices. The analysis provides insights into how McDonald's leverages innovation and sustainability to meet customer needs and build strong relationships with employees and distributors.

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DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION WITH CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGY IN MCDONALD’S
RESTAURANT
Name:
Subject:
Date:

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Introduction
McDonald’s is well known to be one of the largest restaurant chains that mostly deal with
production and selling of fast food to different clients globally. The company serves
approximately forty-seven million clients in their daily functions in the international community.
Furthermore, McDonald’s as the restaurant of junk food, it is operated by several kinds of
ventures of businesses1. These ventures comprise of franchisee, affiliate, or corporation itself.
The ever existing processes of technology survey, continual innovation, together with the
upgrade in technology. Through disruptive modernization, the restaurant has been able to change
or transform its operations. It has changed its operations from the small bar-b-que restaurant to
the restaurant chain of fast food. Besides, transformation of this restaurant through sustainable as
well as innovative business has seen the restaurant to commence serving mostly products of
chicken, salads, burgers, desserts, beverages, wraps, and fruits for dinner, breakfast, lunch, and
even supper within 24 hours a day within the week2. Therefore, the primary purpose of this
research paper is to examine how McDonald’s always focuses on managing its disruptive with
technology. It also focuses on examining how restaurant uses varied strategies in attaining its
competitive advantage globally.
1 Gorham, Laura M., Courtney Gibson, and Erica Irlbeck. "Making A Case For Mcdonald’S: A
Qualitative Case Study Examining The Mcdonald’S “Our Food Your Questions” Campaign".
Journal Of Applied Communications 100, no. 4 (2016). doi:10.4148/1051-0834.1239.
2 Astuti, Lutfi Inayah, and Rodhiyah . "The influence of corporate social responsibility and
corporate image against a loyalty customers (case study on fast-food restaurant mcdonald's
indonesia semarang)". JURNAL ADMINISTRASI BISNIS 6, no. 2 (2018): 96.
doi:10.14710/jab.v6i2.16610.

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Figure 1: McDonald's restaurant in Thailand
Disruptive Innovation in McDonald’s restaurant
In most cases, disruptive innovation tends to stand out as the idea of generating the new
market together with valuable network. It also leads to ultimate disordering of the existing
market and value system, alliances, displacing founded marketing-top corporations, with
disrupts. Besides, disruptive innovation is just the technology whose utilization significantly
affects the functioning of different markets of how a company functions3. For example, modern
disruptive innovation in McDonald’s in diverse markets such as in New Zealand is the internet
that hugely changes how the restaurant does its operations. The utilization of internet has both
3 Cirillo, Valeria, Mario Pianta, and Leopoldo Nascia. "Technology And Occupations In
Business Cycles". Sustainability 10, no. 2 (2018): 463. doi:10.3390/su10020463.

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positive alongside negative influences on various departments of the chain that has not been
ready to adopt such usage of the internet. Moreover, disruptive innovation within this restaurant
has been in play within its several departments4. Such disruption occurs due to the use of high
skill with the presentation of individual computers alongside mobile devices in the initial stage
then followed by the mobile internet, the internet of things (IoT), as well as the cloud.
Disruptive innovation has enhanced the operations of direct chains of McDonald’s. For
instance, the change has aided in the enhancement of safety of food and improving the quality of
products together with services that the restaurant offers to its esteemed and targeted clients5.
Disruptive modernization in the restaurant, in most cases, can be differentiated from other
operations that rely on technology. The differences arise in that it concentrates much on
application of the technology instead of utilization of technology on its own6. Hence, disruptive
innovation in McDonald’s in most global markets can be utilized to describe its techniques that
fail to be genuinely disruptive. The traits of innovation, in most cases, seem to contradict with
proper and consistent functioning in operations although they work as a unit to enable the
restaurant to continue in progress.
Issues or concepts of disruptive innovation alongside its significance in McDonald’s
4 Majumdar, Debashis, Pradipta Kumar Banerji, and Satyajit Chakrabarti. "Disruptive
Technology And Disruptive Innovation: Ignore At Your Peril!". Technology Analysis &
Strategic Management 30, no. 11 (2018): 1247-1255. doi:10.1080/09537325.2018.1523384.
5 Mohr, Sebastian, and Omera Khan. "3D Printing And Its Disruptive Impacts On Supply Chains
Of The Future". Technology Innovation Management Review 5, no. 11 (2015): 20-25.
doi:10.22215/timreview942.
6 Zhang, Li, Duo Pei, and Miklos A. Vasarhelyi. "Toward A New Business Reporting Model".
Journal Of Emerging Technologies In Accounting 14, no. 2 (2017): 1-15. doi:10.2308/jeta-
10570.

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In most organizations, disruptive modernism tends to be created by foreigners together
with entrepreneurs. Such persons use innovation to establish their operations before accessing
market-top companies so that they can increase their marketplace share. However, in
McDonald’s, management have in most cases failed to allow every leader to track disruptive
modernization when they originally arise. The primary reason for such failure is because most
leaders are considered to be non-profitable when they begin operations7. Consequently, the entire
course of their progression can take assets that are limited away from sustaining modernization
that is important in increasing the competition aligned with existing competition within the
marketplace. The technique of disruptive modernization within McDonald’s around the entire
global society can get an extensive duration to have development than by the technique of
evolutionary8. In most instances, when disruptive innovations are positioned with marketplaces
of McDonald’s, the restaurant always attains the much faster advancement degree of effect
together with penetration on the existing markets. The penetration ever occurs for the company's
services and products of a given chain. It is apparent that, ahead of actions and economies of
McDonald’s in the business setting, disruptive innovation can also be considered to have a hand
in disrupting complex schemes. Such disruptions consist of features that relate to business
operations and financial status of the company.
For the past years, disruptive modernization hypothesis has been essential in spheres of
business as well as the influential tool used for envisaging the organization that its contestants
7 Gorham, Laura M., Courtney Gibson, and Erica Irlbeck. "Making A Case For Mcdonald’S: A
Qualitative Case Study Examining The Mcdonald’S “Our Food Your Questions” Campaign".
Journal Of Applied Communications 100, no. 4 (2016). doi:10.4148/1051-0834.1239.
8 Chen, Rachel, and Clayton Barrows. "Developing A Mystery Shopping Measure To Operate A
Sustainable Restaurant Business: The Power Of Integrating With Corporate Executive Members’
Feedback". Sustainability 7, no. 9 (2015): 12279-12294. doi:10.3390/su70912279.

6
will thrive. Conversely, such an explanation has also existed widely misunderstood while the
product of disruptive has been utilized carefully any time newcomers within market shake
upsetting9. The upset is always well recognized within operations of the restaurant in achieving
its objectives10. The disruptive innovation idea within McDonald’s offers some exciting
discrepancies in accomplishments. The original plan has achieved extensive currency among
different practitioners creating the phrase ‘disruption’ to go through the general lexicon in
business.
McDonald’s emerging technologies of disruptive modernization
High expertise in functioning of different corporations like McDonald’s is disrupting
technology. The opinion of different researchers had raised the query of what is meant to be
disrupted in business actions11. Hence, rising technologies, as well as international megatrends
within operations of McDonald‘s are always having collision. The collision leads to disruption of
McDonald's setting of business. Technologies that are emerging are, in most cases termed to be
technical innovation that can violate fresh region within particular departments of McDonald’s
among its chains globally. However, over decades, innovative techniques were developed to aid
in opening up new ways for the alteration of the market while enhancing individuals’ lifestyles.
Moreover, in the current business community, emergence in innovation technologies inn
9 Chen, Liwen, and Tung-Liang Chen. "International Students’ Conceptions Of The Sustainable
Internationalization Of Business Education In Taiwan". Sustainability 10, no. 11 (2018): 4292.
doi:10.3390/su10114292.
10 Tadao Kawamoto, Carlos, and Renata Giovinazzo Spers. "A Systematic Review Of The
Debate And The Researchers Of Disruptive Innovation". Journal Of Technology Management &
Innovation 14, no. 1 (2019): 73-82. doi:10.4067/s0718-27242019000100073.
11 Garcia, Rosario Cano. "Sustainability Indicators Of A Small Restaurant Business: A Case Of
A Coffee Shop In Thailand". SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3418787.

7
McDonald’s comprises of financial treats, but if thriving, it offers competitive value to the
organization12. Other rising technologies are developed through hypothetical investigation while
some are founded on commercial evaluations together with progressive improvement.
Rising technologies that are founded owing to disruptive innovation aids McDonald’s in
developing fresh markets. Ultimately, McDonald’s operates while disrupting the existing values
of networks as well as a market while shifting the present expertise in its daily actions13. For
organization to obtain such advancements in technologies, it has to rely on rising innovation
alongside enhancement to the current technology. Therefore, processes of giving support to
emergency or innovation machineries do not create superior markets but slightly change present
markets with the ideal worth. The impression is critical as it aids McDonald’s to contend
effectively against different rivals towards enhancing its yields in different marketplace. Other
rising technologies within disruptive modernization consist of artificial intellect that seems to be
the flexible model that recognizes its settings. It also helps the restaurant in obtaining the vital
acts required for the accomplishment of particular fact. Therefore, the presence of rising
technologies within disruptive modernization stays to as the fundamental passage in functioning
of McDonald’s. The innovation is critical in its services as it aids the restaurant in nurturing its
innovative customs.
McDonald’s concepts and technology alongside business sustainability
12 Nußholz, Julia. "Circular Business Models: Defining A Concept And Framing An Emerging
Research Field". Sustainability 9, no. 10 (2017): 1810. doi:10.3390/su9101810.
13 Gorham, Laura M., Courtney Gibson, and Erica Irlbeck. "Making A Case For Mcdonald’S: A
Qualitative Case Study Examining The Mcdonald’S “Our Food Your Questions” Campaign".
Journal Of Applied Communications 100, no. 4 (2016). doi:10.4148/1051-0834.1239.

8
Sustainability in business operations within most corporations, such as McDonald’s
remains an essential aspect of their services. It links to the venture that encompasses the
negligible detrimental influence on the regional or global setting of business. Any company that
does well to attain the triple bottom line is known to be a sustainable business. Business
sustainability, therefore, can be described to stand out as the procedure by which corporations
control their ecology, economy, together with societal threats14. These three essential effects in
functioning of McDonald’s are in some cases referred to be the individual, profit, alongside the
planet in business operations. The best approach to sustainable business functioning within
McDonald’s relies much on the perspective of accounting established15. However, its services do
not entirely confine the period aspect that is inherently within the sustainability of activities of
trading. Consequently, another description of business sustainability in McDonald’s signifies
resiliency over the period as operations of trade16. The period can outlive the distress as the
restaurant chain is closely connected to social, healthy fiscal, together with ecological systems.
McDonald’s Emerging technologies of business sustainability
Advancing technologies are vital to the operations of the business of every corporation to
be successful in the present society. In conducting business, McDonald’s innovation in
14 Corsi, Simone, and Alberto Di Minin. "Disruptive Innovation … In Reverse: Adding A
Geographical Dimension To Disruptive Innovation Theory". Creativity And Innovation
Management 23, no. 1 (2013): 76-90. doi:10.1111/caim.12043.
15 Hahn, Finn, Søren Jensen, and Stoyan Tanev. "Disruptive Innovation Vs Disruptive
Technology: The Disruptive Potential Of The Value Propositions Of 3D Printing Technology
Startups". Technology Innovation Management Review 4, no. 12 (2014): 27-36.
doi:10.22215/timreview855.
16 Newman, Lenore. "Commensality, Sustainability, And Restaurant Clustering In A Suburban
Community". Suburban Sustainability 2, no. 2 (2014). doi:10.5038/2164-0866.2.2.2.

9
technology and sustainability are linked in the minds of executives17. The applications of
advanced technologies are enhancing efforts of sustainability in conducting operations.
Emergence in the use of technology has allowed several individuals to be capable of examining
several explorations of how emerging technologies within McDonald’s. The idea has assisted the
restaurant in working with as well as learns the usefulness of sustainability. Some of the
emerging trends in the use of technologies within sustainability in operations of McDonald’s
consist of a structure of corporate, scope of stakeholder, collaborating solutions, improving
transparency, and integration of corporation18. Hence, emergence in technologies is critical in
defining the prospects if corporate sustainability. Therefore, emerging technologies in daily
operations of McDonald’s has to lead to the development of the sustainable environment for its
global services.
Conclusion
From the above examination, it is apparent that disruptive innovation, together with
sustainable business actions, practices, and reporting, is essential in the transformation of
business operations of any company. Such changes have enabled the McDonald’s to spend much
time, possessions, and attempts to organize its business social liability. It is also clear that the
concentration of disruptive innovation, together with sustainability in business, has aided
McDonald’s to enhance its operations. These two essential aspects have made the restaurant to
17 Allahar, Haven. "Academic Publishing, Internet Technology, And Disruptive Innovation".
Technology Innovation Management Review 7, no. 11 (2017): 47-56.
doi:10.22215/timreview/1120.
18 King, Andrew. "The Theory Of Disruptive Innovation: Science Or Allegory?". Entrepreneur
And Innovation Exchange, 2017. doi:10.17919/x92x0d.

10
be capable of operating the series of excellence in the production of foodstuffs. Such quality in
foods has remained to be the vital section of the stable diet with the perfect way of understanding
information about nutrition. The idea is useful in making its clients informed of its choices on the
menu. Additionally, from the above examination, it is clear that the need to embrace the
utilization of emerging technologies have greatly aided McDonald’s to concentrate on the
customers’ wellbeing as its top priority. It is through the innovation alongside sustainability in a
business setting that has assisted the restaurant in having a good working relationship with its
workers and distributors. Good relation has lead to the production and distribution of excellence
foodstuffs. It can be concluded that innovation, as well as a sustainable business, has enabled
McDonald's to be capable of arranging for menu alternatives and offer data necessary. The idea
has dramatically helped in the creation of selections for different clients.
Bibliographies
Allahar, Haven. "Academic Publishing, Internet Technology, And Disruptive Innovation".
Technology Innovation Management Review 7, no. 11 (2017): 47-56.
doi:10.22215/timreview/1120.
Astuti, Lutfi Inayah, and Rodhiyah . "The influence of corporate social responsibility and
corporate image against a loyalty customers (case study on fast-food restaurant

11
mcdonald's indonesia semarang)". JURNAL ADMINISTRASI BISNIS 6, no. 2 (2018): 96.
doi:10.14710/jab.v6i2.16610.
Chen, Liwen, and Tung-Liang Chen. "International Students’ Conceptions Of The Sustainable
Internationalization Of Business Education In Taiwan". Sustainability 10, no. 11 (2018):
4292. doi:10.3390/su10114292.
Chen, Rachel, and Clayton Barrows. "Developing A Mystery Shopping Measure To Operate A
Sustainable Restaurant Business: The Power Of Integrating With Corporate Executive
Members’ Feedback". Sustainability 7, no. 9 (2015): 12279-12294.
doi:10.3390/su70912279.
Cirillo, Valeria, Mario Pianta, and Leopoldo Nascia. "Technology And Occupations In Business
Cycles". Sustainability 10, no. 2 (2018): 463. doi:10.3390/su10020463.
Corsi, Simone, and Alberto Di Minin. "Disruptive Innovation … In Reverse: Adding A
Geographical Dimension To Disruptive Innovation Theory". Creativity And Innovation
Management 23, no. 1 (2013): 76-90. doi:10.1111/caim.12043.
Garcia, Rosario Cano. "Sustainability Indicators Of A Small Restaurant Business: A Case Of A
Coffee Shop In Thailand". SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3418787.
Gorham, Laura M., Courtney Gibson, and Erica Irlbeck. "Making A Case For Mcdonald’S: A
Qualitative Case Study Examining The Mcdonald’S “Our Food Your Questions”
Campaign". Journal Of Applied Communications 100, no. 4 (2016). doi:10.4148/1051-
0834.1239.

12
Hahn, Finn, Søren Jensen, and Stoyan Tanev. "Disruptive Innovation Vs Disruptive Technology:
The Disruptive Potential Of The Value Propositions Of 3D Printing Technology
Startups". Technology Innovation Management Review 4, no. 12 (2014): 27-36.
doi:10.22215/timreview855.
King, Andrew. "The Theory Of Disruptive Innovation: Science Or Allegory?". Entrepreneur
And Innovation Exchange, 2017. doi:10.17919/x92x0d.
Majumdar, Debashis, Pradipta Kumar Banerji, and Satyajit Chakrabarti. "Disruptive Technology
And Disruptive Innovation: Ignore At Your Peril!". Technology Analysis & Strategic
Management 30, no. 11 (2018): 1247-1255. doi:10.1080/09537325.2018.1523384.
Mohr, Sebastian, and Omera Khan. "3D Printing And Its Disruptive Impacts On Supply Chains
Of The Future". Technology Innovation Management Review 5, no. 11 (2015): 20-25.
doi:10.22215/timreview942.
Newman, Lenore. "Commensality, Sustainability, And Restaurant Clustering In A Suburban
Community". Suburban Sustainability 2, no. 2 (2014). doi:10.5038/2164-0866.2.2.2.
Nußholz, Julia. "Circular Business Models: Defining A Concept And Framing An Emerging
Research Field". Sustainability 9, no. 10 (2017): 1810. doi:10.3390/su9101810.
Tadao Kawamoto, Carlos, and Renata Giovinazzo Spers. "A Systematic Review Of The Debate
And The Researchers Of Disruptive Innovation". Journal Of Technology Management &
Innovation 14, no. 1 (2019): 73-82. doi:10.4067/s0718-27242019000100073.