Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage -WI Students Begin Marketing Plan

"McDoanlds' brand mission is to be our customers' favorite place and way to eat."  This statement is more clearly define that McDonalds overall strategic plan and its geographical strategic plan. In the U.S., McDonald’s strategic plan continues to focus on breakfast, chicken, beverages and convenience. These are the core areas in the United States. McDonald’s has launched the Southern Style Chicken Biscuit for breakfast and the Southern Style Chicken Sandwich for lunch and dinner. In the beverage business, McDonald’s starting introducing new hot specialty coffee offerings on a market-by-market basis. In Europe, McDonald’s uses a tiered menu approach. This menu features premium selections, classic menu, and everyday affordable offerings. They also “complement these with new products and limited-time food promotions”. In the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa markets, McDonald’s strategic plan is focused around convenience, breakfast, core menu extensions and value.

The five key facets of that McDonald's experience are people, products, place, price, and promotion.

(1)    Product

Product is the physical product or service offered to the consumer. Product includes certain aspects such as packaging, guarantee, looks etc. This includes both the tangible and the non- tangible aspects of the product and service.

(2)    Place

McDonald's the most important Marketing Plan is that the buyer has a number of McDonalds in the area he/she could probably go to.

A McDonald's restaurant is operated by either a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporation's revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants.

(3)    Price

Pricing includes the list price, the discount functions available, the financing options available etc.

The price must take into consideration the appropriate demand-supply equation. McDonalds has certain value pricing and bundling strategies such as happy meal,combo meal, family meal etc to increase overall sales volumes.

(4)    Promotion
McDonald’s does its promotion through television, hoardings and bus shelters. They use print ads and the television programmes are also an important marketing medium for promotion. Some of the most famous marketing campaigns of McDonald’s are: “You Deserve a break today, so get up and get away- To McDonald’s”, “Food, Folks, and Fun”, “I’m loving it”.

(5)    People
To attract children McDonalds has Happy Meal with which toys ranging from hot wheels to various Walt Disney characters are given. For this, they have a tie-up with Walt Disney. At several outlets, it also provides special facilities like ‘Play Place’ where children can play arcade games, air hockey, etc. This strategy is aimed at making McDonald’s a fun place to eat. This also helps McDonald’s to attract the young urban families wanting to spend some quality time while their children have fun at the outlet. To target the teenagers, McDonald’s has priced several products aggressively, keeping in mind the price sensitivity of this target customer. In addition, facilities like Wi-Fi are also provided to attract students to the outlets. The outlet ambience and mild background music highlight the comfort that McDonald’s promises in slogans like“You deserve a Break Today” & “Feed your inner child”. This commitment of quality of food and service in a clean, hygienic and relaxing atmosphere has ensured that McDonald’s maintains a positive relationship with the customers.

Target Market

McDonalds mostly target adults/teens looing for a quich meal and families with young children.

SWOT Analysis

[Strength]

ㅡ McDonalds is the market leader in fast food franchise with huge customer base around the world.

ㅡ McDonalds earns a good reputation to be a socially responsible firm in the market due to their projects they do to help people.

ㅡ McDonald’s marketing has successfully created a brand image of fast food delivery speed, cleanliness and customer care in the minds of millions of consumers.

It is said that McDonalds was the first food outlet to provide its customers with nutritional facts

ㅡ McDonalds is widely established on geographical scale.

ㅡ McDonalds' affordable price is able to captivate children and youth society, also the low and mid-range income community

[Weakness]

ㅡ The market segment is too focusing on kids. 

ㅡ Hamburger, french fries. Little has been done by McDonald’s are often related to unhealthy food and obesity.

ㅡ High employee turnover rate leads to more money spent on recruitment and training.

[Opportunities]

ㅡ McDonalds can open up online services for their customers so that they can easily order their desired meals sitting at home

ㅡ Since McDonalds is well spread across the whole world, it can diversify into other types of foods by introducing Chinese, Italian or Indian foods in its menu.

ㅡ They can introduce healthy hamburgers and healthy drinks for the people who are health conscious

ㅡ In order to be environment friendly, they can use packing material which can be recycled later or material that does not create pollution

[Threats]

ㅡ Emerging competition of similar outlets is becoming a problem for McDonalds.

ㅡ Health issue also becomes a pr,oblem when it comes to food. People facing heart problems and obesity accuse McDonalds for not providing them with the healthy food.

ㅡ As it is a multinational food outlet, fluctuations in the currency of other countries becomes a problem for such companies

Competitive advantage 

McDonalds has been in the fast food business longer than the vast majority of competitors and their brand is known globally.  McDonalds is a front running company because they have great advertising and they are consistent.  They are innovators in their industry by creating revolutionary ideas such as the $1 menu and introducing healthier lines of food such as salads and wraps to appeal to the changing tastes of consumers.  McDonalds came out with a new premium coffee line that is taking business from Starbucks because it is much cheaper.  McDonalds is a powerful company that consumers have come to know and trust and they have the power to chang as tastes change.  This keeps their competitive advantage alive.