Project on McDonald’s Corporation Essay Example for Free

Project on McDonalds Corporation EssayIntroduction and BackgroundIn 1940 two br oppositewises Dick and mack mackdonald opened their own restaurant. Eight years ago the first sentiments and rules of fast diet mathematical intersectionion and sales were formulated by them. initi all toldy the concern was created in a such(prenominal) port that everything should be very fast and utile. Br differents spent much duration elaborating the layout of the kitchen in their first restaurant, sothey achieved the goal. liven of the fact that later they sell their business and their family no cohe consumeer the owners of it, nowa long time mcdonalds have the akin streamlined system of ingatheringion and sales that it is competent to introduce and of importtain all over the dry land victimisation contrasting strategies and methods. External EnvironmentExternal environment is a bunch of various outward fights that whitethorn have a great impact on the callers performance. T he external environment of every party comprises of three levels the general, labor and competitor environments. The integration of information received from these environments helps to identify and shape the gilds strategies. thitherby, in order to understand what hindrances telephoner faces or may encounter in the future, it is all important(p) to collapse all the levels of its external environment.It was mentivirtuosod earlier that the headquarters of McDonalds locates in the U.S. so we go away analyze general and industry environments in this region.General EnvironmentThe general environment is usually examined by the depth psychology of 7 segments demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological, global and physical environment segments. First of all, the demographic segment is concerned with the race structure and omposition. The USAs population is estimated at 313 286 000 people in 2012. By analyzing population composition, it gouge be said that at that place is very high level of immigration. Moreover, it gage be said that the give up rate is sufficient 13.68 births/1,000 population in 2012, tally to CIA World Factleger.Thereby, these statistics help to understand that the region is sooner profit suitable and comfortable to operate in payable to the large population size and excessive military turn off of potential employees. Last all no least, match to U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income during period of 2006 to 2010 is $51914 which is miscellanya high. Secondly, the political/legal segment is quite important for the analysis because the industry is highly contingent on the assorted kind of taxes imposed by the governments. McDonaldsCorporation is obliges to pay business taxes, payroll taxes, feed Product Association taxes (19% ofthe total profit and 19% in the price of for each one product) and health and cordial insurance for the employees. The changes in governments tax policy may utterly doctor the smart sets tax income. As regards the economic segment, one of the major challenge for fast food industry is that to nurture the price is low for the customer. as yet, it is quite hard because nowadays the USA is tranquilize suffering from the financial crisis which fire be a possible reason to decrease in outside food consumption in a whole.The dimension influencing the fast food industry the most is the sociocultural. The reason is that the industry is dependent on peoples preferences and opinions thats wherefore even tiny changes are crucial. From 2000 to 2002 McDonalds profits dropped from $1.977 one thousand million to $893 million. It was caused by the increase of customers health-consciousness and fears of obesity, as a consequence, any(prenominal) customers prefer much(prenominal) better options which offer a greater variety of food for health conscious customers.Further more than, it is quite important to turn over attention to technological seg ment because the technologies al shipway mean faster operation and monetary value minimization. McDonalds uses antithetical modern appliances to prepare its food without many dangers and in a quick way. Moreover, the majority of McDonalds restaurants provides issue Wi-Fi. In addition, McDonalds better the technology of its supply chain management.Regarding the global segment, it should be high commenceed that most U.S. companies are focused globally which means that they operate in many different countries. McDonalds is not an exception. It is primed(p) in 119 countries and is known as one of the most spread fast food restaurants chain.Last exclusively not least, nowadays more and more companies are concerned with social responsibility and environmentally companionable policies.Industry EnvironmentThe industry environment is usually analyzed by Porters quintette forces model. Firstly, it is the Threat of New Entrants. The threat of invigorated entrants in the fast food indust ry is high because there are no legal barriers which would keep them from entering the industry. The major barriers in which a firm faces in the industry are the economies of scale and the access of the distri andion.In order for a firm to enjoy achievement in the industry, they essendial spend a large add of capital on advertising and market placeing. The industry is very rivalrous because firms are always attempting to steal customers from each other. Access for distribution is crucial in the restaurant industry because if the customer mucklet see you or access you easily its possible that they wont goout of there way to eat there. Franchise options too make is easier to enter the market, for example resistance has built their strategic plan around franchise options. Therefore, ab initio the only cost to enter the market is the sourceing capital required to open a restaurant. However, it open fire cost upwards of millions of dollars for all the equipment, licensing, and the property. This costly barrier is the most probable reason that people do not enter this business. The food- avail industry doesnt have any exit barriers, which allow firms to easily apply the industry if theyre not succeederful, at virtually only the cost incurred.The second force is negociate Power of Buyers. McDonalds, and the industry, has attempted to gain market capitalization, by keeping the customer satisfied, due to the fact there are relatively no substitution cost. For this reason, they have adopted the slogan, the customer is always right. The industry must try to maintain a hold on the market by ad secureing to a changing society as comfortably as maintaining high quality. One of the industrys most unexampled-make concerns is that of creating a healthier society and prevention of obesity. McDonalds corporation has faced previous law suits on being held accountable for obesity, uniformly following the litigation process of cigarettes and tobacco companies.The courts ruled against this issue in McDonalds favor, making this a remote future risk factor. McDonalds has had to paid legal fees in order to defend itself in this type of litigationhowever, even with this incremental cost they are still achieving a signifi tummyt rate of earnings offshoot. In addition, McDonalds, in its effort to be a more socially responsible bodied citizen by supporting a healthier society, has developed light and healthy wit items in order to give customers additional eating options and in doing so, broadening the roll of its customer base while religious offering its existing customer base with healthier notice options. Thirdly, it is Bargaining Power of Suppliers.It tummy be said that McDonalds has a large bargaining creator because of the fact that they spend 4.852 billion dollars in food and makeup in 2004. This can be argued that the companies that McDonalds buys from could be largely dependent on McDonalds business. Although in recent years the i ndustry has had a small problem with beef, because of the outbreak of the mad cow disease. This problem raised the cost of beef in Europe tremendously but the cost actually went up around the world because of the beef famine in Europe.In this case it can be argued that the suppliers of beef have a strong articulate as head. The suppliers that sell to McDonalds have a strong voice standardisedwise because of the fact that the switching cost for McDonalds as a whole would be so tremendous that they would not motivation to make that change, so any problems or disputes would be worked out with there suppliers. Also, with the competition and the number of buyers in the market place, losing a large company like McDonalds could destroy any supplier but there are other prospects out there to buy that product like Wendys, Jack inthe Box, Burger female monarch and a few others that they may be able to salvage there losses. As for the paper goods that McDonalds buy from the manufacture rs, if McDonalds were to change manufacturers the supplier could easily change there manufacturing to note book paper by good readjusting the machines but it would come at a great cost. The fourth force is Threat of Substitute Products. McDonalds is known for their famous French Fries, great(p) Macs, and Happy Meals. Competitors of the industry to a fault try to compete with similar products therefore, leading to price wars.McDonalds created a Dollar Value Menu, in response to competitors such as Wendys 99 cent menu. Overall, the industry has tried various product differentiations in order to accumulate greater market dower, but most consumers are drawn to the classics for which the cosmos is known for. However, growing concernto achieve a healthier society has led McDonalds, as well as other competitors, to make extensive menu changes, in order to conform to a more concerned society. McDonalds is doing more and more to compete with health focused restaurants like underpass.Nu tritionist and other leading experts have been hired to join the McDonalds team in order to ensure that the ripe items are added to the menu, while still keeping and improving the classics that they are famous for. For example, the chicken nuggets that we all grew up on are now 100% white meat. McDonalds is flexible in their menu to conform to the changing tastes of society, but they always serve with a smile The fifth and final force is warlike Rivalry inside an Industry. Currently in the fast food industry, there is intense competition for growth in the market. The market growth is rising because of the convenience factor and busy consumers not having enough time to cook a meal.The restaurant industry is besides growing rapidly due to opportunities in other global markets. In McDonalds case, they actually have a competitive advantage because they have already entered many different countries and are succeeding in these countries. Each firm within the food-service industry is p ersuadable to losing customers because there are relatively no switching costs for consumers, therefore the industry has to rely firmly on their disgrace image and quality of products. McDonalds has a number of competitors however they are before long the leader of the industry in market capitalization with a cap of $39.31 billion.Competitor AnalysisIt is around vital to know the competitors in your industry in order to be able to overtake and go past them. The top competitors of McDonalds are Burger King, Wendys, KFC and thermionic tube.Burger KingBurger King is the second largest burger fast-food chain in the world and is the number one competitor for McDonalds. Burger King has 11,400 views in 58 countries and derives 55 percent of its revenue from the drive-through window. Burger King reported 1.72 billion in 2002 in revenue which is a 17 percent increase compared to a 4 percent increase reported byMcDonalds over the same period. Burger Kings distinct assets include the u nique Whopper with its one of kind charbroiled taste and the company policy of preparing the hamburger any way that the customer wants it.Burger King has distinguished itself over the years in many ways including being the first in the fast-food industry to enclose its patio seating in 1957 thereby offering customer indoor dining experience. Burger King excessively differentiated itself when it installed the drive-through window in its restaurants in 1975. In addition to the Whopper Burger King also offers a few set items on its breakfast menu that differs it from it competitors including the Croissanwiches and french toast sticks. The rest of the menu also offered the unique veggie burger and chicken Caesar salad.WendysWendys is the third largest fast-food chain with 9,000 stores in 33 countries world wide. In 2002 they reported 2.73 billion in revenue which is up 14.2 percent from the previous year. Wendys offers several unique items including the Frostys and Spicy Chicken Sandwi ches as well as healthier items such as salads, baked potatoes and chili. Wendys has also distinguished itself through the origin of the special value menu with all items on it under a one dollar.Wendys also owns several small companies including Tim Hortons and Baja Fresh Mexican Grill. It plans on increasingly using acquisitions of smaller brands to throw out growth. In next decade Wendys plans to add between 2 and 4 thousand impudently stores worldwide. One important weakness of Wendys is the lack of easily recognizable product compared to McDonalds Big Mac of the Burger King Whopper.KFCStrategic ObjectivesKFC has the strategic objectives of expansion along with profits and sales growth. KFC has also been applying its strategies at improving services and making them more and more customer friendly. It has not only been customizing its menu according to the countries that it has been direct in, it has also been hard to cater to different ethnic throngs like African Americans and Hispanics. such types of strategies are focused on increasing the customer base by better customization of products. Other than thetraditional eat-in restaurants, KFC has also beenexpanding into non-traditional facilities like shopping malls, hospitals, universities, stadiums office buildings etc and a number of strategies have been formulated to aid this kind of expansion. hawkish AdvantageA very strong financial background is one of KFCs competitive advantages. KFC has been execution as a multinational corporation for several decades. As a result, the company is familiar with the logistic and quality problems which accompany operating an international food operation, and has demonstrated that it can work with host countries and businesses within the host country to develop a outline which works in the most cost effective way. With the passage of time, KFC has developed another very important competitive advantage for itself Environmental Friendliness.In butt 2009, the f irst eco-friendly green KFC was opened in Northampton USA. The restaurant is intentional according to environmental goals that include cut energy and water consumption by 30 percent and reducing CO2 emissions. Operations at the juvenile site are also expected to reduce waste and the amount of rubbish sent to landfills the restaurant composts and recycles other waste, grease and used cooking oil. Other than this, in an effort to reduce its advancement by 1,400 tons, KFC is now switching from cardboard to recyclable and biodegradable paper wrapping for some of its products.SubwayStrategic ObjectivesThe strategic objectives of Subway focus on creating a global strategic plan to alter Subway restaurants to succeed internationally. Other than this subway is intent upon introducing the concept of healthy fast food. Sandwiches of Subway have been included in diet plans by experts. Subways stand regarding obesity in children is not unsanded to its customers. Strategies at Subway are n ot only about(predicate) a real ambitious increase in franchises all over the world but they are also about making the food more and more appealing to the health conscious customers because health conscious attitudes, according to the experts, are here to stay now. Competitive AdvantageOne of the greatest competitive advantages that Subway was born(p) with is its healthy menu. The salads and sandwiches appeal much more to the people as compared to fried chicken, burgers, fries and pizzas. With its advertising and promotion, Subway has long been highlighting its healthy food in advertising and promotions and with the passage of time, it has established itself as a healthy brand. Another competitive advantage that subway enjoys is the fact that along with traditional locations, Subway restaurants can be name in more than 4,000 non traditional locations such asfood courts, health clubs, hospitals, universities, recreation parks or just about anywhere. In fact, Subway restaurants c an even be found in automobile showrooms and Laundromats This global presence is indeed a brookable advantage for Subway and unavoidably to be managed properly. Subways fresh food is also a competitive advantage because hostile its competitors like McDonalds it allows its franchisees to choose their own food suppliers, to ensure they can access the freshest ingredients.Resources, Capabilities and Core CompetencesResources benevolent resourcesMcDonalds is does its best to reward outstanding employees for exception work. It is also putting more vehemence on its hospitality training to ensure a friendlier and customer focused support staff. Brand commitmentThe long queues to McDonalds in food courts is the best illustration of high level of brand commitment, that company continues to develop. In advertising campaigns McDonalds uses the slogan Im lovin it which it there attempt to make McDonalds an casual choice for families. They have also started using popular music to appeal to youth population. Real realmIt may be surprising, but real estate ownership is one of the significant Mcdonalds resources. It is estimated that McDonalds generates more money from its rent than from its franchise fees. One of the ways in whichMcDonalds receives funds from its franchises is in rent money. McDonalds owns all property in which a McDonalds outlet was built regardless if the location is a franchise or company owned.CapabilitiesMcDonalds used to have several capabilities, among them hiring process and employees training and product innovation. Hiring processIt is complicated and systematic. It comprises of 3 main stages. 1. Initial interview and psychometric evaluation. On this step the candidates undergoing aboveboard interview and tests evaluating their verbal and critical reasoning2. Job evaluation. On this step candidates have 2 days practice in a restaurant that allows them to look at McDonalds as a future employees and HR team to assess candidates performance 3. Final interview. The last stage of hiring process includes overall interview and stopping point about the candidates is do.Taking into consideration staff training, McDonalds has many training programs on every level of restaurant. facts of life forums are made for basic workers and they start from the very beginning of functional in the restaurant. They are designed to help employees with their communicational skills and encourage growth in the company. Other programs are created for managers of the restaurants, such as canonic Shift Management, Advanced Shift Management, and Systems Management Course .Their main objectives are providing information about natural standards and procedures, teaching data analyses and strategies of identifying and solving different problems. For higher levels employees McDonalds has internship programs for students and recent graduates. Programs let them practice in different spheres of companies performance such as Information technologies, Marketing, Finance and others. Other McDonalds project Leadership maturement program is based career planning, Individual Development plans, career maps, succession planning, learning activities and others. Product innovationThe main resource developing product innovation dodging are full-time chief working in studios in Munich, Hong-Kong and Chicago. Moreover, localization of products also plays important role in development of innovative products. For example, in India Beef and pork products are not offered due to Indian religious beliefs. What is more, meat and vegetarian meals are alert in separate areas of the restaurant again as a result of religious laws about planning of food for vegetarians and meat-eaters.There is an Indian version of the Big Mac in India is calledthe Maharaja Mac and made with two grilled chicken slices, onions, tomato plantes, cheese and a spicy mayonnaise. In Taiwan company introduced kao rooter (literally baked rice), that resembles a burger wit h rice patties in place of buns. Finally, in Philippines McDonalds serves even spaghetti with in sweet tomato sauce, topped with cheese.Core Competences Produce quick cheap food to large number of customersWith this concept, they are able to expand into many countries be the largest fast-food chain in the world. The process of production is the company core competence. Initially it was designed in such way as to be fast and very effective. There is on the button guidance of how to do every activity.Mcdonalds pioneered in the systematization of its processes.Efficiency of operations andsynchronization is the basis for success of the company.Also, it may be said, that burgers and fries are themselves McDonalds core competences. McDonalds classic burgers has always taste the same in any outlet in the world. This consistent quality assures customers trust and inscription to the product. It also provides an assuring brand experience. Structure some specialists consider the unique organ izational structure of McDonalds as its core competence. McDonalds never used rigid hierarchical organizational structure, that company managed to sustain over the years. It uses immunity with framework mantra, keeping structure decentralized. It allows local managers to make decisions by themselves. It also plays significant role in localization of menu due to local needs.Business-Level schemeThe business level strategy McDonalds uses integrated cost leadership and differentiation. It means the products of mcdonalds is the cheapest on the market and more over McDonalds does its best to make them absolutely different from what others produce, using localization and launching immature products almost every year.So the target of its strategy is to get word the needs of buyers whose preferences are distinctively different from others. So MD deals with the costumers who want very fast service with good quality. And it is different from the visitors of not fast food restaurants. The product line is customized to meet their needs. The marketing emphasis is put on communication and market analysis again to satisfy their needs. Finally the way to sustain strategy is delaying dedicated to serving one niche and be better than competitors in everything and do not dilute the brand image entering other niches.Corporate-Level StrategyCorporate-level strategy is a strategy which is aimed at the long term position of a business. A corporation or business can use plenty of methods to develop a bodily level strategy, however, basically, there are four main strategies that almost all businesses use which are Concentrate on a atomic number 53 business, other words, business stays on the same industry on purpose to create a strong competitive position within the industry. Diversification which is to move to a advanced business to provide a new good or service. There are two kinds of diversification, think diversification which is to compete in similar area/industry of a ctivities to build asynergy and unrelated diversification which is to enter a new industry to compete and build a portfolio strategy. International Expansion. This means some competition in more than one market to serve the needs of the other markets/countries. Vertical Integration. This is a way to cut costs by providing your own ways of inputs, backward vertical integration and your own channels of distribution and selling outputs by forward integration.Therefore, now lets move directly to McDonalds corporate-level strategy. Nevertheless, before we start to consider all the main points of this particular type of strategy, some overview details will be given.Mc Donalds is a fast food restaurant operating on a global basis. It is operating on 119countries world wide. Mc Donalds was opened for the first time in Cyprus in June 1997 and by now there are 16 Mc Donalds restaurants in Cyprus.So, Mc Donalds uses corporate level strategies like all other global basis corporations in order to reach corporate goals to be cost effective. MC Donalds is a business which only concentrates on a single task which is the fast food business industry as stated by Dr. Weber, (2000). This special issue someday will help a lot the business to concentrate directly on one single task and get not only more power and market share, but consumer loyalty also in result.This happens because of the fact that they will run many strategies to find the best solutions of the consumer needs and preferences. However this can be very risky if the business fails to meet the right needs of consumers and therefore will not be profitable and as a result will close down due to the possible bankruptcy.Firstly, as it was stated in Washington post (2005) MC Donalds diversifies its operations in many ways. Thus, the company uses related diversification in order to produce the same products which are burgers and salads basically, but they provide just an enormous number of choices, such as Big Mac or Mac c hicken, different kinds of salads.Moreover, McDonalds operates in more than one geographical area but still do the same task. Also it has opened MC cafes all around the world. McDonalds gets many advantages by doing related diversification, firstly, if there are two Mc Donalds restaurants in a city, then the two firms can build a synergy by co-operating with the right to use some special facilities such as the advertisements, suppliers and sometimes events, for instance, charity events. Secondly, as statedby Ricky, W (2003), the firm depends less on a single product, so its less vulnerable to competitive or economic threats. Other words, Mc Donalds having variety of products like burgers, salads, ice creams and drinks is not being threaten of competition because this particular company has diversity in its products, for instance, Mc Donalds Greek Mac makes it more stable and steady than such rivals as Burger King because the rivals do not have such product.Thirdly, it allows the fi rm to use technology or expertise developed in one market, for example, fast food to enter a second market more cheaply and easily e.g. MC Caf. However, the only disadvantage that Mc Donalds faces, is the cost of coordinate the operations of the related divisions. In 2001, McDonalds launched a new venture by opening two hotels in Switzerland (Zurich and Lully) under the name Golden Arch Hotel Stefan, M (2005).This is a good example of an unrelated diversification because of the fact that Mc Donalds is taking risks of its business from a single activity to many others like taking part in the Hotel industry. Unrelated diversification provides a portfolio for Mc Donalds because it is operating on two absolutely different industries and the risk is reduced because if one of the two markets that the business has activity in fails to grow successfully, then the growth of the other market will skip the costs of it.Secondly, such strategy is less vulnerable to competitive threats because any given threat from a competitor is likely to affect only a portion of its total operations. However, unrelated diversification is very difficult to manage since the company has to deal with two markets and their strategies, plans and organization and coordination of each specific market which it isdealing with. McDonalds has introduced the American concept of fast food to many foreign Markets as stated by, Francine L, (2005). Moreover, the firm has by now, expanded end-to-end most of the world by operating on 119 countries. Thus, Mc Donalds is known globally at once because it is expanded internationally. Mc Donalds is using multi-domestic strategy to serve each nations needs. It is customizing the fast food menus for each specific country/nation to suit the peoples wants. For instance there is Greek Mac in Cyprus and Greece. The advantage of this strategy is that the company is targeting a nation very effectively and gains market share by attracting the customers whereas, the cost of production will increase in order to add a new feature to the firm and the prices will rise to cover the costs. As stated in Getting the Facts groovy leaflet of Mc Donalds, the firm is working with top suppliers and independent experts on health and safety.The Cyprus Mc Donalds restaurants inputs such as meat, is ordered regularly from Italy with the highest quality and when they enter the island,it is supplied to all the franchise branches on the island by Mc Donalds vans and trucks. This shows that Mc Donalds owns its inputs and has its farms to breed cattle and grow vegetable and potatoes. Therefore, this allows the company to flow costs by doing vertical backward integration. Moreover, it maintains a guaranteed time, quality and amount of supply to the restaurants when required.The drawback of vertical integration is that, at the beginning of the integration huge amounts of capital should be invested in to the backward integration. Mc Donalds business has been working since 1956 till now successfully and still operates under these corporate level strategies. joint StrategyA cooperative strategy means interaction between two or group of companies which work together to achieve a shared objective. By measures which areincluded in cooperation, companies can create value for the customer at a lower cost or with more benefits than it is able to do by itself. The primary type of cooperative strategy used is strategic alliances.Such kind of cooperations means that companies partly share their resources and capabilities between each others to produce new resources and capabilities, e.g. gain shared objectives. Such corporations as McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Disney are the biggest multinational corporation with outstanding profits.But how can they enlarge their profits with the same amount of resources? The answer to this question is cooperation.Lets look through some strategic alliances form by McDonalds.Alliance with Coca-ColaMcDonalds alliance with Coca- Cola has no piece of paper to fall back onjust a putting green vision and a lot of trust, according to Mr Ivester (Cokes chairman). On setting up in the burger business in the 1950s, one of Ray Krocs first successes was persuading a Coke executive Waddy Pratt to provide him with their drink.Cokes relationship with McDonalds goes far beyond than just a supplier It has helped McDonalds to go to the new markets all over the world, because Coke is sold in almost twice as many countries as McDonalds. Michael Quinlan, McDonalds chairman, runs off a long list of areas of cooperation, from banking relationships to equipment design. There is also very close relations between the members of this alliance at board level. When Cokes chairman Robert Goizueta died, flags flew at half-mast at McDonalds around the world.Alliance with DisneyThe alliance between McDonalds and Disney has moved way beyond doing only ikon promotions with Happy Meal toys. Nowadays this alliance has made enormous amoun ts of progress, for example McDonalds being a shop of Dinoland, one of Disneys attraction in Animal Kingdom, has built its restaurant outside this attractions park. This new brisk McDonalds is decorated in DisneyWorld style. The staff wear uniforms which is approved byDisney, which demonstrates McDonalds characters.Alliance with cut through Card and VisaMcDonalds has announced an alliance with MasterCard and another alliance with Visa USA to bring cashless stipend options to McDonalds restaurants in the US. By this cooperation with MC and Visa, a company has provided more comfortable system of payment in McDonalds which attracts customers.Alliance with Malls and Gas StationsMcDonalds latest expansion targets call for approximately 3,000 new restaurants world-wide both 2008 and 2009. Two-thirds of new restaurants will be built outside the USA. On the other hand, in the US approximately 600 new restaurants will be so-called satellite units mini-McDonalds found in malls and especia lly in nationwide retailer. McDonalds has formed alliances with Amoco Oil Co. and Chevron Corp. in the US to built restaurants in tandem with gas stations to cover more and more destinations all over the country.Global StrategyMcDonalds has initially expanded to international markets in the conditions of strong regulations and overcrowded market in the USA. In the very beginning they offered a standardized products and attracted new clients with unclouded environment policy and brand equity. Recently the company line up to new conditions by providing new product line and redesigning retail space in order to meet local needs and tastes.This strategy has allowed McDonalds to adapt quickly to new countries, but at the same time it created a long-term threat of diluting the brand and loosing its association with American culture. For instance, in Europe McDonalds becomes going beyond fast-food conception. In order to compete with drinking chocolate shops, McDonalds started offering m ore comfortable conditions, such as WI-FI and iPods for rent. Moreover, they created new healthier and locally adopted foods.Some specialists suggest, that if the company continue to expand with this strategy, it will be quite difficult to remain recognizable and purposeful brand.Now it is time to consider McDonalds global strategy in more detail, taking China, South Africa, brazil-nut tree and Saudi-Arabian Arabia as examples of strategy realization. But firstly, it is worth mentioning a few background facts.There is an marvellous opportunity to expand in the world. McDonalds annual growth rate is about 1000-1500 restaurants and by 5-10 countries. According to the statistics, the company employed about 2 million people worldwide in 2000. The company adapts easily to new customers preferences by incorporating in the menu pommefrite sauce in Belgium and Holland and special mayonnaise based sauce in Iceland.ChinaThe McDonalds strategy in China is vary specific and it is aimed for a daptation to local culture. In simile with the US, it was important for Chinese clients to focus not only on the food, but also on the restaurants atmosphere. That is why in China McDonalds restaurants are very similar to the American coffee houses with comfortable conditions for conversation and meetings. An other part of McDonalds strategy is introducing national tastes in its menu, such as the teriyaki burger.South AfricaIn South Africa McDonalds resolved to focus on high populated cites. The point is to serve people where they eat, shop or play. The companies mass figured out that drive thru facilities are much effective then restaurants themselves, that is why there was made a decision on improving retail spaces. Moreover, McDonalds marketing strategy was severe on potential customers with different income level.In South Africa McDonalds has 90 branches spanning all nine provinces. It has 3 000 staff in just 39 restaurants, most working for franchisees. Each new restaurant opening creates as many as 80 new jobs, which is really important in current conditions.BrazilThe eighth largest McDonalds market is concentrated in Brazil. Management team here is mostly focused on quality improvement and customer satisfaction and it was awarded for these efforts with Franchising Hallmark of Quality.Furthermore, McDonalds Brazil is one of the best employers and fifth among most admired companies in the country.Saudi Arabia and IndiaThe most characteristic feature of McDonalds in Saudi Arabia is that it closes five times a day for Muslim prayers. McDonalds India offers aloo tikki and paneer. And it doesnt serve beef or pork at all. The Big Mac becomes Maharaja Mac in India. The company created special conditions for vegetarians with separate kitchen, cook and utensils. Moreover, in Ahmedabad the company decided to open an all-vegetarian outlet. Holding in respect Muslim tenets of belief, the company does not serve pork in all Islamic countries.There are two absolute ly unique restaurants in the Holy City of Makkah, where Moslem customers are exclusively served by the staff, fully consists of Moslem employees, from the Service Crew to the Restaurant Manager level . And finally, McDonalds efforts have improved the local industries and national economy due to the fact that more than 50% of the products used are make locally and in the gulf regions.RecommendationsFor Business-Level StrategyThe main recommendation in terms of business-level strategy is to remain in the same niche. McDonalds pioneered the whole concept of the fast food restaurant, that is why it should go to some other businesses, such as higher-level restaurant, because it can dilute their image of best fast food restaurant.For Corporate-Level StrategyDue to the fact that not every family has a direct access to McDonalds cafes or just their place is too far from the restaurants, the idea to provide fast food to supermarkets. The products will be sold in the special vacuum package, so that it would have their original taste. This way the restaurant will lax nothing because there are only advantages which consist of making extra profit and gaining customer loyalty through spreading their production into the farplaced (far located) regions.For Cooperative StrategyAs we have seen in the examples of McDonalds alliances cooperation is very competent way of development. In my opinion, McDonalds can cooperate with greater amount of companies. However, it should be very selective in choosing partner not to dilute its image. For example McDonalds can cooperate with Apple McDs can provide expel rechargers to Apple gadgets in its restaurants, while apple spread some apps by the AppStore. I think that McDonalds also shouldcreate alliance with some attraction park companies, as theyve made with Disney. Of course it would be more profitable for McDonalds because of the amount of clients concentrated in one place. On the other hand, ones park logo and symbolic in MacDon alds is worth it.For Global StrategyIn spite of the fact, that McDonalds has great expansion opportunities, it is essential for the company to remember about its strength and to prevent brand dilution by means of concentrating on traditional American fast-food menu and including no more then 30% of specific dishes. Talking about the companys pros, it is essential to continue developing and improving marketing campaign towards children and adults in foreign countries. In addition, such fresh ideas as creating vegetarian restaurants should be adopted in more countries in order to give customers resource choice. Moreover.It would be a great idea to install Internet access terminals in each restaurants in order to reduce the amount of lag time between a customers orders and crack up of the order. This will show the innovative company level and improve its brand image for customers. proofIn the conclusion it is worth mentioning that the best prove of fantastic effectiveness of McDonald s strategy is the fact that its competitors trying to copy its standards and processes to become more competitive at the market where McDonalds still remains the leader. locating as multi-pages