McDonald's Case Study: Innovation Management for Reducing Wait Times

This case study examines the challenges McDonald's faces with customer wait times, particularly at a central Dallas location, where issues like delays with the Quarter Pounder and Olympic Village congestion impact customer satisfaction. The solution focuses on improving checkpoints, front-end processes, and self-service options. The study suggests employing an input-output model and design thinking, emphasizing empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing. Brainstorming techniques are recommended to generate innovative ideas, such as additional counters and engaging activities to mitigate perceived wait times. The analysis references design thinking principles and the importance of understanding and addressing customer expectations to enhance service delivery and overall customer experience. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Innovation
Management

Company
• McDonald's is American fast food restaurant chain which
is established in year 1940.

Issue
• Recently the issue has been noticed at central Dallas
McDonald's that customers has lost patience with long
wait times.

Contd…
• Tracy more noticed that that one of person named Moore
was angry who has ordered new quarter pounder at
restaurant drive through.
• It was asked to wait in the parking space till delivery
completed.

Contd…
• Many of customers has said that if delivery is taking so
much time then cancel my order I don’t want to order it.
• Quarter Pounder takes about a minute longer in delivery
as compared to other products.

Olympic Village
• At the time of Olympic the issue in
terms of long waiting has been
witnessed.
• It has created a situation which has
impacted overall development of
customer satisfaction

Solution
• It is necessary for management of McDonald's to have
better focus on identification of check points.
• It assist in analyse factors that create issues in terms of
delayed in service delivery.
•

Contd…
• Front end improvement is also necessary to be promoted.
• Management must ensure that front-end processes are as
accurate and effective as possible.

Input and Output Model

Contd…
• Improve self service opportunities within store.
• Checkout lane and application of floor reps can also assist
in effective management of practice.

Contd…
• Focus on customer expectations
• Optimize staffing
• It will allow to ensure that standards are well maintained
in order to resolve the issue.

Design Thinking Model
Company can focus on design thinking model stages in
order to resolve issue
• Empathise
• Define
• Ideate
• Prototype
• Test

Contd…
Management also need to employ the tactics that assist in
identify the challenge of the designer lies in synthesizing
this within the context of their design.
Also guidelines and principles of thinking need to be shared
in desired manner.
Ideation gives firm better answers to McDonald's problems,
and gives us a better idea of a prototype that can delight it’s
users.

Contd…
• At initial level the McDonald's can have focus on gain an
empathic understanding of the problem you are trying to
solve.
• After that at define, the management need to focus on
collective gathering of information so that accurate
interpretation can be taken into account.

Contd…

Contd…
• In prototype the management of McDonald's need to
advance the specific features that can advance the
solution for the problem.
• At last, company must focus on application so that best
selected way can be tested in appropriate manner.

Brain Storming
• It is a group creativity technique by which the effective
conclusion for specific problem can be identified.
• It allows to generate various innovative ideas like setting
out additional counter at outside of store.
• Introducing a fun activities so that customers may not feel
waited.

References
• Introduction to thinking process. 2015. [PDF]. Available
through:<
https://dschool-old.stanford.edu/sandbox/groups/designresources
/wiki/36873/attachments/74b3d/
ModeGuideBOOTCAMP2010L.pdf >.
• Lawson, B., 2006. How designers think: the design process
demystified. Routledge.
• Buchanan, R., 1992. Wicked problems in design thinking. Design
issues. 8(2). pp.5-21.

Thank You