Mcdonald Case Study

McDonalds On a Customer-Focused Mission More than half a century ago, Ray Kroc, a 52-year-old salesman of milk-shake-mixing machines, set forth on a mission to transform the focus Americans eat. Kroc bought a chain of seven stores already active for $2. 7 million. From the start, Kroc preached a motto of QSCVquality, service, cleanliness, and value. These goals became mainstays in McDonalds customer-focused mission narrative.Applying these values, the order perfected the fast-food conceptdelivering convenient, good-quality food at affordable prices. McDonalds grew quickly to bring about the worlds largest fast-feeder. The fast-food giants more(prenominal) than 32,000 restaurants worldwide now serve 60 million customers each day, racking up system-wide sales of more than $79 billion annually. In the mid-1990s, however, McDonalds fortunes began to turn. The company appeared to fall out of touch with both its mission and its customers.Americans were looking for fresher, better-ta sting food and more contemporary atmospheres. They were as well seeking healthier eating options. In a sassy age of health-conscious consumers and $3 muffin and coffee at Starbucks, McDonalds seemed a bit out of step with the times. McDonalds was struggling to find its identity among its competitors and changing consumer tastes. The company careened from one failed idea to another. It tried to keep pace. None of these things worked.However, McDonalds continued interruption new restaurants at a ferocious pace, as many as 2,000per year. The new stores helped sales, but customer service and cleanliness declined because the company couldnt hire and check off good workers fast enough. Meanwhile, McDonalds increasingly became a target for animal-rights activists, environmentalists, and nutritionists, who accused the chain of contributing to the nations obesity epidemic with super coat French fries and sodas as well as Happy Meals that lure kids with the reward of free toys.Although M cDonalds remained the worlds most visited fast-food chain, sales harvest-tide slumped, and its market share fell by more than 3 percent between 1997 and 2003. In 2002, the company posted its first-ever quarterly loss. In early 2003, a troubled McDonalds announced a turnaround planwhat it now calls its Plan to Win. At the heart of this plan was a new mission statement that refocused the company on its customers. The companys mission was changed from being the worlds best quick-service restaurant to being our customers favorite place and way to eat.The new plan centered on five basics of an exceptional customer experience people, products, place, price, and promotion. Under the Plan to Win, the goal was to get better, not just bigger. The company invested in improving the food, the service, the atmosphere, and marketing at existing outlets. McDonalds redecorated its restaurants with clean, simple, more-modern interiors and amenities such as live plants, wireless Internet access, an d flat-screen TVs showing cable news.Play areas in some new restaurants now feature video games and even stationary bicycles with video screens. To make the customer experience more convenient, McDonalds stores now expand earlier to extend breakfast hours and stay open longer to serve late-night dinersmore than one-third of McDonalds restaurants are now open 24 hours a day. Moreover, MacDonald added healthier options, such as Chicken McNuggets made with white meat, a line of Snack Wraps, low-fat milk jugs, apple slices, Premium Salads.In 2008, when the stock market befogged one-third of its valuethe worst loss since the Great Depression McDonalds stock gained nearly 6 percent. Through 2010, as the economy and the restaurant perseverance as a whole continued to struggle, McDonalds outperformed its competitors by a notable margin. QUESTIONS 1. What are the main environmental factors that affected MacDonald marketing strategy and way of doing business? 2. How MacDonald responded to the changing environment? (How these changes affected its marketing mix? )