McDonald's Case Study: Marketing Strategies and Future Growth

This case study provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's, a global fast-food giant. It begins with an executive summary and introduction, setting the stage for an in-depth exploration of the company's history, tracing its origins and evolution. The report delves into McDonald's current product portfolio, highlighting its diverse offerings and adaptation strategies to cater to various markets. A crucial aspect of the study is the competitor overview, where key rivals like Burger King and Wendy's are examined, emphasizing the intense competition within the fast-food sector. The analysis then transitions to McDonald's marketing strategies, including its consistent branding, customer targeting, and use of social media, blogs, and traditional advertising. Finally, the report considers McDonald's future growth plans, including internal expansion, menu customization, and the incorporation of healthier options. The conclusion summarizes the company's performance and strategic positioning in the competitive market.

Running head: MC DONALD`S CASE STUDY
MC DONALD`S CASE STUDY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The primary aim of the report is to highlight the case of the giant food chain restaurant company
Mc Donald’s. Mc Donald’s is a pioneer of success when it comes to discussion on the
management of business and marketing and it is due to this reason that the company has been
able to maintain its positioning since a long time. The report has examined its past overview,
current marketing strategies, competitors and has made a comment on the future growth of the
company as well.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Brand History...................................................................................................................................3
Current Product portfolio.................................................................................................................3
Competitor Overview......................................................................................................................4
Marketing.........................................................................................................................................5
Future Growth..................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The business environment has become quite competitive in nature and it is due to this
reason that it becomes quite important for the different firms as present in the business
environment to strategize with respect to the business consistently and ensure that they are taking
the right path. The primary aim of the report is to highlight the working and management of Mc
Donald`s globally. The report will be analyzing the brand history, which will then be followed
by the current product portfolio and the competitor analysis. The latter half of the report will
throw light on the marketing of the firm and the plans for the future.
Brand History
Mc Donald’s is an Fast food company based in America which was found in the year
1940 as a restaurant and was initially run by Richard and Maurice Mc Donald in California
(Mcdonalds.com ,2018). The company is listed in the New York Stock Exchange and is
currently trending at US$ 187.59. The company was found in the year 1955 by Ray Kroc (Slack,
2015). The company has various subsidiaries as well namely Mc Delivery, Mc Café, Mc
Donald’s and more. The company has been labelled as the second largest fast food restaurant
around the globe with more than 37200 locations throughout. The restaurant is present in more
than 100 countries in the form of fully owned restaurants as well as the different subsidiaries.
The restaurant chain is guaranteed to provide fast and good quality services to its different
customers at large (Wheelen et al., 2017).
Current Product portfolio
The company offers a wide range of products to the different customers at large. The fast
food chain is most popularly known for its delicious French Fries and Burgers along with a

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Happy Meal combo which includes a cold drink and a side snack (Johnson, 2016). The company
makes use of adaptation strategy whereby the product is as per the taste of the country in which it
has expanded in. The company offers a wide range of burgers like cheese burger, ham burger,
chicken sandwiches, soft drinks, breakfast items as well as desserts. Moreover, along with these
items, the company also sells meals like wraps and salads which are customized as per the taste
of the targeted customer crowd (Mcdonalds.com ,2018). The Mc Donald’s menu in USA
comprises of over 200 items. The company was earlier held up for its use of various artificial
preservatives, however as of September 2018, the company released a statement that it no longer
uses artificial preservatives in its major food items (Williamson et al., 2013). Along with this, as
the company`s product portfolio lagged a healthy meal, the company as a response to these
allegations came up with various options like salads, shakes, smoothies and other wraps as well
as rolls.
Competitor Overview
When it comes to competition in the fast food sector, the competition is very fierce with
various firms operating in the particular segment. The different competitors of Mc Donald’s are
Burger King, Wendy`s, Yum! Brands, Chipotle and Popeye`s. Along with this, in other parts of
the world, Mc Donald`s also receives tough competition from companies like Nandos, KFC and
Hungry Jack. The main reason for the intense competition between the different companies is the
offerings which they make (Moutinho & Vargas-Sanchez, 2018). All the above mentioned firms
tend to deal in fast foods like burgers, wraps, fires, pizzas, cold drinks and other shakes which
tends to provide the different customers with a large number of options to choose from. The
other kind of competition which takes place between these companies is the competition with
respect to price. Most of the players have a cheap offering which is affordable and then the often

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make use of various promotional techniques and price wars in order to ensure successful
implementation of their own offerings and a larger market share (Rothaermel, 2015).
Figure 1: The competition overview of the firm
(Source: Marketrealist.com ,2018).
Marketing
Marketing forms an essential aspect of all the organizations and without proper marketing
strategies, any firm would not be able to survive in the competitive business environment.
Keeping this in mind, even Mc Donald’s engages in extensive marketing strategies. Firstly, it
follows certain simple rules which thereby allows the firm to perform well (Morschett,
Schramm-Klein & Zentes, 2015). These rules are that it is very consistent to market changes, it
understands the different customers and targets them as per their needs, maintains a consistent

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brand whereby its logo and Brand name are very popular. Moreover, with respect to its
advertising mix it makes use of the following mediums in order to ensure long term success.
 Social media advertising: In this, it makes use of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to
ensure considerable market pull.
 Blogs and videos: The firm unloads various advertisement videos and blogs on YouTube
as well (Merat & Bo, 2013).
 Newspaper and Television advertising: It advertises on television as well as newspaper
using which the firm is able to ensure success.
Future Growth
Hence, from the given analysis, it can be stated that Mc Donald’s is a growing and
consistent brand which aims to ensure that it has a considerable standing in the market which
will allow the firm to compete well. Over the time, Mc Donald’s has made use of various
techniques like online applications, mc Delivery and a healthier meal option for the firms.
However, according to…, in the future, Mc Donald’s aims to undertake the following moves:
1. Mc Donald’s aims to expand internally within the various countries. At present the South
East Asian countries do have a large number of outlets of the given brand but they are
rare in number and hence, in lieu of this, Mc Donald’s aims to expand its operations at
large. It plans to get into various franchises, deals and other such mergers to ensure
relative expansion (Lasserre, 2017).
2. It plans to customize its menu and thereby make it healthier in nature by blending some
of the custom dishes of each country along with a Mc Donald’s twist.

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Conclusion
Therefore, from the given analysis it can be stated that Mc Donald’s has been performing
considerably well over the last few years and is constantly changing and adopting as per the
needs of the external environment as well.. The report outlined the background of the company
which was then followed by its Product portfolio, an analysis of the competition which prevails,
the marketing strategy used and the future growth of the firm. If Mc Donald`s strategizes well it
would be able to maintain its market standing easily.

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References
Johnson, G. (2016). Exploring strategy: text and cases. Pearson Education.
Lasserre, P (2017). Global strategic management. Palgrave.
Marketrealist.com (2018). Mc Donalds. [Online]. Available at:
https://marketrealist.com/2013/12/mcdonalds-compete-poses-biggest-threat (Retrieved
on: 18 Nov. 2018).
Mcdonalds.com (2018). Mc Donald USA. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us.html (Retrieved on: 18 Nov. 2018).
Merat, A. & Bo, D. (2013). Strategic analysis of knowledge firms: The links between knowledge
management and leadership. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(1), pp.3-15.
Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H. & Zentes, J. (2015). Strategic international management (pp.
978-3658078836). Springer.
Moutinho, L. & Vargas-Sanchez, A. eds. (2018). Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI
Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Rothaermel, F.T. (2015). Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Slack, N. (2015). Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. & Bamford, C.E. (2017). Strategic management
and business policy. Pearson.
Williamson, D., Cooke, P., Jenkins, W. & Moreton, K.M. (2013). Strategic management and
business analysis. Routledge.