Marketing Essentials Report: McDonald's and UK Expansion

This report provides an in-depth analysis of McDonald's marketing strategies, focusing on their role and responsibilities within the organization. It examines key aspects such as distribution, pricing, product/service management, and customer feedback, highlighting how these elements contribute to McDonald's success. The report explores the relationship between marketing functions and the organizational context, using McDonald's as a case study to illustrate how marketing decisions impact customer satisfaction and business expansion, particularly in the context of entering the UK market. A critical analysis of the marketing function elements, including their effectiveness, is also presented, providing insights into how McDonald's maintains its competitive advantages and manages value for its customers and employees. The report leverages information from McDonald's website, news articles, and financial reports to support its findings.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Project 1...........................................................................................................................................3
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function....................................................................3
P2 Relation of responsibilities with the organizational context...................................................4
D1 Critical analysis of the key elements of marketing function..................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Marketing essentials is considered as a process which involves various factors such as
pricing, planning, sales and marketing of the products in a way such that they are able to satisfy
the needs of the customers (Biggemann, 2012). The concept of marketing essentials is vast and is
not limited to the products and services only. It involves the organizations, experiences, clients
and ideas as well. The report is about understanding the role of marketing and its relation with
the other functional units of the organization. Also, the fast food chain is planning to expand
from Europe to UK for which the marketing strategies McDonald’s are considered which can
prove beneficial for their future plans.
Project 1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
There are various responsibilities of a marketing function that acts very essential for the
growth of the company. Some marketing function along with their roles are discussed as
under :
Distribution
The distribution policy of a company should be such that it satisfies the requirement of
the customer. As in case of McDonald's, they distribute food at the stores and along with it,
provides home delivery as well. The function of home delivery seems beneficial to the
customers who wants to enjoy their meal in their home. Many times, people feel lazy in
going to the store or the store is far away from their place, in that case McDonald's provides
home delivery and is satisfying the customers to a huge extent as well. If the policy of home
delivery ha not been included in the structure of McDonald's, it might not have gained so
much popularity because these days various people wants to enjoy their meal at home itself.
Selling
Every company has a selling procedure. As in case of McDonald’s, their sell the food
items across every country of the world. There are a huge range of restaurants of McDonald's
that focuses on selling their products all over the world (Raghunathan, 2015). The selling
strategy of McDonald’s has been observed effective enough because the chain has been
spread across all over the world, thus satisfying a great range of the customers. Along with
selling at the stores, the business also provides an option of home delivery which acts very
beneficial for the customers as well as for the company. This is a better option for those
people who feel lazy to visit the outlet and wants to take the meal in their home itself. So, t
can be considered as a better initiative by the company which has successful enough in
satisfying the huge number of the customers.
Financing
McDonald's have already set a strategy of taking the finance from some of its partners in
the time of need. They subtract all their expenses from the revenues and that is what they
have. There are various partners of the business which can help them in the time of need.
Marketing Information management
McDonald's often take feedback from its customers about what they like from the menu
and what not. So, they focus on excluding the item from the menu that has not been liked by
the people much. The company focuses on satisfying the taste and requirements of the

customers. Taking feedback's is a better option to continue on the path of success, so does
McDonald's do. It is a great concept of excluding the items from the menu that has not been
taken much interest by the customers because involvement of such items disappoints the
customers to a huge extent (Aurélie, 2010). So, it is a great initiative by McDonald's to take
regular feedback's from the customers and excluding the products that are not required and
decreasing the image of the company. The company may also modify the product if it wants
to and if it will not be liked by the customers, then they can stop focusing o the product.
Pricing
The pricing strategy of a company should be like the customers are also satisfied with
the rates and the company also does not have to face any issue. The pricing structure of
McDonald's has been set from low to moderate. The company provides the products in this
range only so that the products can seem affordable to the people. It is so because if the
pricing structure of the company will be too high, it is obvious enough that the customers
will prefer some other food chain. So, the company focuses on maintaining the accurate
pricing structure so that the customers can stay satisfied with it and it will further help the
company in a regular number of customers.
Product/ Service management
The company should focus on introducing new products on a regular basis because there
must be something new for the customers so that they cannot get bore from the same menu.
That is why McDonald's involve various new items n a regular basis for satisfying their
customers. It makes the customers happy as well.
Promotion
The promotion of a company or its products can be done by various means such as by
advertising on TV etc. Often various advertisements of McDonald's are seen on the
television, so these can be considered as a means of promotion. The company also promotes
by providing pamphlets of the latest deals to the people. These are some means of promotion
which a company can make use of to increase the popularity.
P2 Relation of responsibilities with the organizational context
The roles and responsibilities of marketing are directly related to the organizational
context. A very common example of it can be that the popularity, success factors, competition
rate depends on the policies and procedures of the company. Taking example of McDonald's, as
if it's pricing policy would not satisfy the customers, that is if the rate of each product of the
company is too high, then it is an obvious fact that the customers would prefer some other food
chain or restaurant because the people along with enjoying the meals also have to manage their
general essentials and expenditures (Biggemann, 2012). It can also term a negative factor for
McDonald's , its people will prefer other restaurant chains, which may be the competitors of
McDonald's. So, because of the decreased number of customers, the company may have to face
some loss in the market. The same way, if the company does not provide options like home
delivery etc., the customers would rather prefer some other chain that provides the same
function. This factor again can result the company in a loss of customers. McDonald's always
involve some new concept or ideas in their menu which makes it different from those food
chains who have a fixed menu list for the customers. Customers also take interest in the new
deals and products, so it can help the company in achieving a huge amount of customers which
has already leaded the company in gaining a huge amount of success in a few time. The company
also focuses on taking proper feedback's from the customers on a regular basis. It is also a very
essential unction which any food chain can involve. By this way, customers also consider the

fact that they are essential for the company ad it helps in preserving their interest in the company.
By these small means, McDonald's always focus on satisfying the needs and requirements of the
customers.
D1 Critical analysis of the key elements of marketing function
The distribution process of McDonald’s has been an essential function in satisfying the
needs of the customers as the company provides the products at the outlets and along with it, it
provides an option of home delivery as well. It is a very beneficial option for the people who
does not want to go to the store and want to enjoy the meal at their home itself. In contradiction
to it, the pricing strategy acts more important in the marketing function as if the price structure
comes within the range that satisfies the pocket of the customers, then they can enjoy their meals
more often. If the rates seem more, then the customers can also prefer some other outlet to take
the meals. However, it can be evaluated that the pricing strategy of McDonald’s seems more
effective than the distribution policy (Hammad, 2012). The procedure of taking feedback's from
the customer has also been observed as a very essential component because by these small
efforts, the customers also think that they are important for the company, which helps in
maintaining their interest in the specific food chain. In contradiction to that, the product and
service management also acts very important as McDonald’s focus on improving the food items
on a continuous basis by including various new products in their list which acts as an attractive
feature for the customers. They often take feedback's from the customers about the quality of the
products so that they can exclude the ones in which the customers are less interested in.
This feature of the company makes it efficient enough to satisfy a huge number of
customers. However, it can be evaluated that proper management of the products and services is
an important factor as it helps in maintaining the interest level of the customers in the specific
food chain. This further helps the company in gaining more and more number of satisfied
customers and success at a faster rate as well. The chain of McDonald’s has spread all over the
world and also has proven successful enough to satisfy the needs of the customers by keeping
these small measures in mind. McDonald’s has been successful enough in managing the value
for customers as well by taking proper care of them by providing them fresh and healthy food.
Along with this, it takes care of its employees as well. It often provides them some sort of
motivation and encouragement by giving them some sort of incentives and increments so that
they can stay happy and well. The employees f the company are giving their hard work t the
company which is the actual reason for satisfying the needs of the customers till now, s the
company also focuses on providing them full support and motivation by these factors such as
increments and incentives on a regular basis. However, it can be evaluated that the company
focuses very efficiently on all the seven functions of marketing as by distributing the products
and services all over the world efficiently and that too on affordable rates that the customers feel
sufficient enough from purchasing the stuff from the company. Inclusion of new items and
products have also been a very successful attempt by the company which has also satisfied a
huge number of customers. McDonald's has the capacity of differentiating it from the other food
chains and has also been successful enough in maintain the competitive advantages in the market
place.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aurélie, V., 2010. Viral Marketing REEBOK: The Terry Tate Case study. tousLesDocs. com
Publications.
Biggemann, S., 2012. The essential role of information sharing in relationship development.
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 27(7). pp.521-526.Wu, C. W., 2016. The
international marketing strategy modeling of leisure farm. Journal of Business Research.
69(4). pp.1345-1350.
Raghunathan, S., 2015. Volatility in Indian stock market. Asian Journal of Research in Business
Economics and Management. 5(2). pp.298-311.
Hammad, A., 2012. Examination of the Marketing Communication Strategy of McDonald's in
UK, its Impact on the Buying Behaviour of Consumers and Consideration of Factors
Contributing to the Success or Failure of the Brand.