Management Tools for McDonalds - Essay Example

management tools al Affiliation) Introduction Dick and McDonald’s launched McDonalds Bar-B-Q restaurant in 1940. They opened the restaurant in San Bernardino, California. In the world, it is the largest fast food restaurant. In more than 121 countries, the number of McDonald’s restaurants is more than 34,000 that serve more than 69 million customers. The headquarters is in the United States. In 1988, the restaurant introduced the McDonald’s management. The management assisted the restaurant to research, organize, and to increase the sales of the restaurant by providing fast foods across the world. Some of the competitors include Subway and Wendy’s company. Discussion The strengths of McDonald’s include brand equity and merging with other brands. In the world, it is the largest fast food with the largest market share. It is growing rapidly in terms of total sales and has a value of 40-billion dollars. The management has adapted to local food menus whereby they provide foods as per the specifications of the different consumers in different countries. In addition, it has successful items such as fries, and Big Mac. The management has also collaborated with the best-known brands like Coca Cola and Heinz Ketchup to give its customers quality foods (Bertelsen, 2012). McDonald’s’ weaknesses include unhealthy foods and high employee turnover. Most of its menus comprises of unhealthy meals and drinks that has led to a decline of its market share. This is due to the competition the restaurant is facing, in addition to many people embracing a healthy diet. In addition, there is high employee turnover due to low payment that results in lower performance. In addition, people criticize McDonald’s to provide unhealthy food like burgers that cause obesity. The management should review the employee remuneration terms and give them better packages. In doing this, the employees will be comfortable working, as they will give their best in a bid to achieve the company’s goals. One of the opportunities of the company is a high demand of healthy foods (Drucker & Maciariello, 2008). The management can achieve this by introducing foods within the healthy lifestyle. For example, the introduction of healthy snacks such as fruitcakes in place of cakes. In addition, they can come up with a fitness and exercise package. The management may as well install play parks for children so that they may play after enjoying McDonald’s food. The management should consider coming up with home delivery services where one can enjoy the McDonald’s foods by simply dialing a number. There is a growing number of dining out markets. McDonald’s may consider providing dining services to this market, for example, having dinner nights once a month. There are also bigger opportunities in emerging markets, for instance, China therefore the restaurant should do enough marketing and advertising to capture the new emerging markets. It should venture into joint business with supermarkets. A trend of eating healthy foods is becoming popular. This is one of the threats of McDonald’s. The government and other firms fight against unhealthy eating. People are becoming more health conscious. Another threat the management is facing is competition. In almost all countries, fast food restaurants are becoming more popular. In addition, the need of people to eat fast so that they can continue with their busy schedule has made fast food restaurants to become common. The local ‘Fast Bottom of Form Foods’ create a competitive environment for the company. This is because they offer menus that represent the local tastes. Governments control the marketing strategies of fast foods. This is due to the health implications that people are struggling with for example cholesterol problems and obesity. The government also controls the issuance of licenses for a franchise fee. The McDonald’s management should have a good relationship with these governments if the company wants to succeed in doing business in foreign countries. The economies of scale of a country affect McDonald’s sales. As the local markets cannot fulfil the local demand, the restaurant imports most of its materials (Cameron & Green 2004). On the other hand, the economic condition of the country is an indicator to the demands of the company’s products for instance; if a country is facing hard economic times then the company suffers in terms of sales. The lifestyle of people in developing countries changes fast, hence people are financially stable to eat fast foods (Porter, 2004). McDonalds show concern by putting effort in Muslim countries by localizing its menu to suit the local taste, for example, the Muslims who do not eat pork. McDonald’s has implemented new technology to speed the processing of the foods therefore making the products readily available (Rao, 2005). However, the management should be looking at competitor innovation to improve the management of its operations, for example, create an inventory system. Environmental problems such as air pollution and the use of plastic bags have been a concern. McDonald should come up with packaging bags that are recyclable (Hilb, 2005). McDonald’s should protect its integrity and confidence in consumers by following the regulations and procedures as a certified fast food organization. They should implement all the policies applied in fast food chains. The usefulness of the management tools is that one can use them in business and strategic planning. MacDonald’s should consider taking advantage of a new business opportunity. For instance, open up a fitness club for the customers who want to keep fit. Secondly, the company should consider having good customer relationship management. McDonald’s should be able to understand and address the needs of the customer and respond quickly. For example, it should take advantage of the Muslim countries that do not eat pork and come up with foods that suits them. On the other hand, McDonald’s should have a survey done to the employees to find out whether employees are enthusiastic around their work. McDonald’s should respond to the new trends that competitors are using to be at per or even surpass the ideas the competitors have for example the home delivery service. The management tools may help in making the business better; deter threats, and taking advantage of the threats. One of the limitations of using this management tool is that it does not provide the management of McDonald with direction or help identify the key aspects on its own (Ruggles, 2007). This is because the system relies on managers to identify and prioritize the crucial elements. McDonald’s may rely on the planning, analysis only, but the management should begin to think about the future of the organization instead of stopping other planning efforts. McDonald may not find it necessary to access to external information that is usually restricted due to the cost implications and time needed to collaborate it. These tools can help generate many ideas, but it will be difficult to choose the best. Conclusion Fast food companies are increasing at a high rate. The management should be able to deal with any changes that may arise or affect the operations of the business. The management tools need regular revision to meet the goals and objectives of the company as well as meet the needs of the people. References Bertelsen, B. 2012. Everything you need to know about SWOT analysis. Newmarket, Ont.: BrainMass. Top of Form Bottom of Form Cameron, E., & Green, M. 2004. Making sense of change management a complete guide to the models, tools & techniques of organizational change. London: Kogan Page. Top of Form Bottom of Form Dealtry, T. 2002. Dynamic SWOT analysis: Developers guide : When looking to the future look for the opportunities and threats and consider your strengths and weaknesses. Birmingham Drucker, P., & Maciariello, J. 2008. Management (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Collins. Princes Hilb, M. 2005. New corporate governance successful board management tools. Berlin: . Springer-Verlag Ruggles, R. 2007. Knowledge management tools. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. Rao, M. 2005. Knowledge management tools and techniques practitioners and experts. KM solutions. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Read More