Mcdonalds

Introduction McDonald’s is well-established and globally recognized as one of the top fast food restaurants in the world. For over the last seven decades, McDonald’s has been the people's choice. The men that introduced McDonald’s to the world were Dick and Mac McDonald. They started in San Bernardino, California on 15 May 1940, but the concept was transformed into the McDonald's Corporation on April 15, 1955. The founder for the McDonald's Corporation was Mr. Ray Kroc. Ray Kroc changed the original concept of McDonalds, and once he did that McDonalds reached more customers and successfully grew McDonalds through the United States and eventually the rest of the world. Currently, McDonald's has more than 32,000 restaurants worldwide. McDonald's current menu includes burgers, french fries, drinks, milkshakes, salads, breakfasts, and desserts. The current C.E.O and chairman of McDonald's is James A. Skinner. McDonald’s has always met the need of its customers by serving them with great respect and expectations. McDonald’s Values McDonalds has five values that they adhere to: • The core of the organization is the customer experience • Commitment to all • Being ethical in operating • Giving back to communities • Continually improve To start off, McDonalds believes that their customers are the core of the business activities, and those same customers are the satisfaction that is fundamental for the growth of the organization. Basically, McDonalds believes that their customers are the reason for their success. Mainly, this is due to their experience and satisfaction, by high quality service, in clean and friendly environments in an aim to demonstrate appreciation. Secondly, McDonalds commits to people, which is a critical role in the organization. It is one of the beliefs in the organization, in order to achieve satisfaction; a team of trained staff with different backgrounds, high quality experiences, and when all put together it fosters respect, high satisfaction and their continued success. McDonalds operates ethically, in dealing with customers, they feel that providing correct information and understanding that you will get what you pay is key to the customers. They also feel that the respect, special needs of ethnic and different backgrounds is another key of success. They are proud that each team member throughout the world, work together to achieve the one goal, which is honesty, fairness and integrity. The fourth value, of McDonalds is that they are involved in all types of community activities, which is to give back. One of their main activities/objectives is to support Ronald McDonald House Charities by positively manipulating its size and resources in order to give back to communities worldwide. Lastly, continually striving to improve at McDonalds is a core value. Doing this by responding and evolving with the changing food market. Not only, with customers and their needs but also with their employees and running system of McDonalds. McDonalds’ Mission McDonald's brand mission is to be our customers' favorite place and way to eat. Our worldwide operations are aligned around a global strategy called the Plan to Win, which center on an exceptional customer experience – People, Products, Place, Price and Promotion. We are committed to continuously improving our operations and enhancing our customers' experience (McDonalds.com). All of our proposed objectives are surrounded by the five McDonalds values just discussed above. Micro Marketing-SWOT To analyze Mc Donald’s we are going to look at the Micro and Macro marketing factors. To look at micro marketing we need to do a ‘SWOT’ analysis. This looks at internal factors: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). By looking at the strengths of Mc Donald’s, they have developed strong brand equity with in the fast food market. They are number one in terms of sales. They have acquired a positive outlook on brand imaging, in terms of its good service and value. The organization takes things slow in terms of growing growth and the ability to retain its customers through innovation. They also are known for having the top management teams and loyalty amongst staff. A weakness of McDonalds is that their core product line is focused on hamburgers. These types of products do not meet the needs of today’s customers because they are working on healthier lifestyles, which is a growing trend. Mc Donald’s has had the opportunity to respond to the growing trends and need to be concerned with the healthier and more active lifestyles. They have started encouraging customers into Mc Donald’s from coffee shops with the opening of its new Mc Cafe. They might also get more bang for their buck, by attracting customers by building more play areas and parks. This would attract the active lifestyles. This would help them improve the McDonalds image and by focusing on social responsibility and reducing the impact made on the environment. Mc Donald’s is also receiving pressure from the government and various other groups, concerning the environmental impact made by the company. There has also been an increase in competition in the food market to meet this demand. Marketing Direction McDonald's marketing direction and objectives are implemented in three main phases. They are identifying customers, rapid development of products and effective communication with customers. These are very well known by all McDonald’s marketers. The main marketing objectives of McDonald's are: 1. To increase its market size globally and locally. 2. To serve customers not only in metropolitan areas but also in cities and towns. 3. To minimize the loss of market opportunities to their competitors. 4. To create awareness about the existence and introduction of new McDonald's products. 5. To provide a wide variety of foods to meet the different choices of customers. 6. To collect customers' feedback to upgrade McDonald's menus to meet their needs and taste. 7. To enforce healthy food habits among customers. 8. To align itself with the social and environmental responsibility issues when producing and promoting a product. Marketers for McDonald’s clarify that they are more concerned about the quality of their products and services, rather than competing with the market. McDonald's is a "one of its kind" food restaurant, which provides a complete package of services and products to its respective customers and is performing well in all the marketing phases compared to other of its competitors. “Go First, Go Big” is one of the strong marketing strategies of McDonald to grab the market and meet the customers demand without delay. McDonald's Market Segment McDonald's target market segment research has been identified different types of customers, where these are the main key customers of McDonalds. McDonald's focuses on four target groups: Parents with children; Children; Business customers; Teenagers and young adults McDonald’s is able to attract children and their parents at alarming rates, as children have got hooked into the “McDonald’s experience”. Parents are able to relax and have a little breathing space over their "McCappuccino", McDonald's coffee beverage. Children want to visit McDonald’s as it is a fun place to eat. A recent study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that low income 3 to 5 year old children preferred the taste of burgers, chicken, French fries, carrots or low fat milk, if they thought the products were from McDonald's. McDonald’s uses a lot of strategies to influence the children, including the influence over children in schools. McDonald’s spends 40 % of its multibillion dollar marketing budget on marketing directly to children in school since it is a place of learning and holds a high level of trust with kids. McDonald’s build its brand perception through positive brand association within the education system, to educate and familiarize children with the McDonald's brand. Some of the activities organized by McDonald's are: 1) "McSpell It" competitions 2) "Ronald McDonald road shows" to tackle bullying 3) "McTeacher evenings" at local McDonald’s restaurants to raise money for the school. McDonald’s has identified the underfunded education system, as an easy way to market its social responsibility and influence children in the sports field. McDonald’s has tied NBA superstar LeBron James with a multiyear sponsorship deal and wants to deliver a message that “eat McDonald’s and you too can become a basketball superstar”. McDonald’s also sponsors other top athletes like Serena Williams and Michael Phelps who could greatly assist in giving the perception that McDonald’s products are conducive to maintaining high levels of athletic excellence. McDonald’s sponsors the largest sporting event in the world, which is the Olympic games. Happy meals, happy playgrounds and McDonald’s birthday parties are where children are guided by what’s fun and exciting rather than nutritional value and health. McDonald’s makes sure that the happy meal holds new toy and colorful playgrounds hold every child’s fascination. The Ronald McDonald clown, being officially marketed as McDonald’s ambassador for a balanced, active lifestyle creates the final touch on marketing to children. With such a wonderful experience, these children are seduced time and time again by collector toys, undercover playgrounds and food that greatly influence today's fast food industry system. McDonald’s started offering nutritional classes or school field trips for children to visit a McDonald’s restaurant and learn about nutritional health. They call his McEducation. Children get the chance to learn about nutritional health such as learning the nutritional value of vegetables. They also get to make their own McDonald’s hamburger. The purpose of this McEducation, is clearly to let children more familiar of McDonald's and set a belief of McDonald provides nutritionally healthy food. McDonald’s focus on where the children go McDonald's goes wherever children go such as shopping malls, main streets, entertainment complexes and of course their main location beaker and schools. The founder of McDonald’s, Ray Kroc said, "We used to spot good locations for McDonald’s stores by flying over a community and looking for schools." A recent study by Ray showed that 90% of McDonald’s restaurants were within walking distance of a school. McDonald’s is also on billboards that kids walk past or drive past every day, as they make their way to school. The following is some of the strategies used by McDonald's to lure and influence business customers. A. "Drive thru" facilities are a well-known fact that McDonald's service is quick, and its food tastes great. Business customers like to go to McDonald's outlets because they can buy McDonald's food through the "drive-thru" facilities and can be eaten in the car without affecting their busy work schedules. To focus the business customer, McDonald's also provides the “Breakfast McSaver (McValue) menu” for them to buy coffee or breakfast set meal at an economical price. B. McDonald VIP sticker In Malaysia, McDonald's offers "McDonald's VIP" stickers to customers who frequently use its "drive thru" service. By using this sticker, customers will be given an extra set of fries if he or she spends more than $20. This sticker functions as a membership card, but serves as a different way to build up McDonald's brand loyalty among its customers. C. Charitable trust McDonald's takes part in charitable trusts and social responsibility programs to build up a good image among the business customers and to show that they have fulfilled their role in terms of social responsibility. At the same time, McDonald's will be able to use charitable programs as free advertisements for the company if it takes part in them. McDonald's also plans marketing strategies to target teenagers and young adults in order to lure them to McDonald's restaurants. A. Hamburger University- Provide education for teenagers as children become teenagers and their first job is looming, they could become fry cooks and work at the McDonald's drive-in before heading off to McDonald’s "Hamburger University" where these teenagers can get a McDegree and continue to work at McDonald's at higher levels. B. McSaver (McValue)- Menu McDonald sets a different price for the different period in a day such as McValue Lunch (valid from 12 noon to 3 p.m), morning time saver menu from 6 a.m to 9 a.m. C. WiFi service- Internet access available in McDonald's restaurants encourages teenagers to have a meal at McDonald's to enjoy free WiFi Internet access provided at its outlets. D. McWeddings-In young Hong Kong, couples can now grab love on the run at the city's McDonald's restaurants. McDonald's says, the concept is not tacky and fills a niche in Hong Kong, where its restaurants are popular dating venues. Prices for more typical weddings run high, and McDonald’s prices are affordable. "Couples date here and grew their love here, so when they have this important day they want to come over here," said Shirley Chang, the managing director of Hong Kongs McDonald's restaurants. E. 24/7 (24 hours/7 days) concept McDonald's tend to locate at the roadside because it is highly visible and accessible during night time. One of McDonald's market targets is the teenagers and young adults who stay up late and people who have activities at night. Many restaurants do not operate during late nights and midnights, but McDonald's always remains open and continues to operate and offer its products and service as it adopts the 24/7 concept, where McDonald's outlets open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Evaluating and Selecting the Market Segments McDonald's selects full market coverage because it attempts to serve all customer groups with all the food and beverage that they might need. McDonald's covers the whole market in two broad ways: A. Undifferentiated marketing - McDonald's offers the whole market with French fries and burgers. B. Differentiated marketing - McDonald's operates in several market segments and designs different products for each segment such as: 1. Happy meal for children. 2. Breakfast set meal for business customer. 3. McSaver Menu meal for teenagers. 4. McWedding for young Hong Kong couple. McDonald's Pricing Strategies Meeting Customer’s Needs McDonald's is a strong brand in the fast food market and almost everyone can relate McDonald's to its most products including burgers and fries. The question is: What makes McDonald's fast food products so famous and unforgettable' McDonald's emphasize on developing a menu which can meet the customers' wants and needs. McDonald's recognize this vital aspect because they know that there is a huge variety of options for potential customers and current customers to choose from and spend on in the fast food market. Besides, McDonald's also realize that customers' needs, wants and requirements change over time. For instance, what might be trendy and attractive two days ago may not be trendy and need to be discarded two days later. McDonald's knows that they cannot rest on their laurels in the pursuit of understanding and keeping up with customers' preferences and buying patterns. Global McDonald's opened its first restaurant outside the United States of America in the early 1960s. The organization began to spread and expand its business in different parts of the world. McDonald's market expansion in the global market coincides with the two eras which are explained earlier. While expanding its business globally, McDonald's had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of cultures across different countries. It also realized that to successfully penetrate these markets, the organization must transform their products to fit nicely into their culture and traditions. Through this experience, McDonald's has adopted the idea of "Think Global, Act Local" which has proven to be an important successful factor of its products on a global scale. The idea simply means that McDonald's business operation is global, but its marketing action and products adapted to fit into each local market. Based on this idea, McDonald's creates localized products for different countries, catering to the needs, culture and traditions of the locals in these countries. Localized McDonald's products possess their own special features which can often be related to local influence and local flavors, and they contribute to the product range explosion that occurs from year 2002 onwards. Below show some localized McDonald's products in a few countries: Malaysia McDonald's Prosperity Burger in Malaysia McDonald's Malaysia provides a few localized products such as Bubur Ayam McD (chicken congee) and Ayam Goreng McD (fried chicken) into their existing menu. During Chinese New Year, McDonald's offers a special menu known as the prosperity burger which is made up of beef or chicken patty dipped in specially made pepper sauce and spring onions. India McDonald's Maharaja Mac in India McDonald's outlets in India, doesn’t serve beef and pork related products due to Indian religious sensitivities. Most of their products are either made of chicken, fish or vegetarian ingredients. For example, there is the Maharaja Mac which is similar to Big Mac, but is made with chicken patties. India is also the only country which provides vegetarian fast food products in McDonald's outlets. An example product from its vegetarian menu is the McAloo Tikki Burger, which is made with potato, peas, spices, tomato and onions. Japan McDonald's restaurants in Japan offer a wide range of localized products with a Japanese flavor. They have Teriyaki McBurger which is a burger consisting of ground pork patties, mayonnaise, lettuce and teriyaki sauce, Ebi Filet-OShrimp is a shrimp burger with special sauce and lettuce and Ebi-Chiki Set which is a combination of 2 pieces of shrimp nuggets and 3 pieces of chicken nuggets. All in all, McDonald's has successfully evolved its product strategy from the traditional concept of limited product range since the beginning of its establishment to the new era after suffering its first ever loss in 2002. With the stiffer competition from major rivals in the fast food market, as well as, to meet the continuously changing customers' needs, wants and satisfaction. Without engaging in product research and development, McDonald's cannot create new product innovations to attract new customers and retain loyal customers. This goes to prove that the product strategy plays an extremely important part in McDonald's business. McDonald's marketing strategy lies on the effective pricing of their products. Since its establishment in the 1940s, families have formed a large percentage of McDonald's targeted market. That is why the pricing strategies are focused on offering an affordable and economical options. McDonald's has created their menus in such a way, that people from all walks of life can enjoy McDonald's quality products and services without having to spend a lot. How McDonald's prices its product include the various costs related to raw materials and its operations, discount functions, available financing options and others. McDonald's also has to take into consideration other important factors, such as competitor's pricing strategy, the demand supply model and the customers' perceived value on its products, which can greatly influence its pricing strategies. In this section, we will focus our attention on customers' perceived value of McDonald's products, its pricing methods and the influences on its pricing. McDonald's realizes the importance of customers' perceived value as a vital determinant of the price of its products. What is the customer's perceived value' It simply refers to the worth that a product or service has in the customer's mind. Customers often draw their own perception of the value of a product, a product is not only tangible, it can also impact psychologically on the customer. In general, customers perceive McDonald's as a global brand which can often be associated with clean and tasty high quality fast food products offered via efficient, superior and sophisticated service. McDonald's conviction in quality, service and cleanliness has often made a lasting impression on customers' minds. At the same time, customers recognize McDonald's as a fast food brand offering affordable and reasonably priced food products, where almost anybody can purchase them with ease. How do customers perceive the value of McDonald's and its product compared to its competitors such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King and gourmet restaurants' McDonald's is perceived by customers to offer the widest range of food products in the fast food market. McDonald's targets almost everyone with these products which include burgers, snacks, desserts and beverages. Customers often automatically relate fast food with McDonald's; thus its brand has basically said it all. In short, customer's perceived value on McDonald's and its products focus on its quality in services and products as well as the convenience and affordability that it offers to customers. Pricing Methods Based on McDonald's marketing strategies, we have identified a few pricing methods employed in its pricing strategy: Product Line Pricing Product line pricing refers to the method of pricing different products within the same product range at different price points. McDonald's has a unique pricing strategy that falls on its many product line. One obvious example in this category of pricing method is its McValue Meals. For instance, a customer can order a Big Mac McValue Meal (basically a set meal) comprising a medium-sized soft drink and a medium-sized packet of fries for $5.99. The customer can upgrade to a large-sized Big Mac McValue Meal comprising a large-sized soft drink and a large-sized packet of fries for $6.50. In other words, McDonald's offer customer’s different pricing options for varying sizes of their set meals and products. The McValue Buka Puasa promotion in Malaysia offers to price to the temporary pricing of goods and services at lower than normal level for a special promotional effort within a fixed period of time. From time to time, McDonald's would launch different promotion campaigns for its products, and this is where promotional pricing comes into play. Very often customers will notice the big advertisements posters or banners promoting products which are sold at a lower price. Such promotions are organized by McDonald's on a regular basis, to advertise its existing products or seasonal products to bring existing customers back and attract new customers. Penetration pricing refers to the method of setting a relatively low initial entry price for a product to attract customers and build market share. Such pricing method was evident when McDonald's initially attempted to break into the coffee market by establishing a partnership with Green Mountain Coffee, a brand specializing in specialty gourmet coffees. Large marketing campaign was run by McDonald's with the main aim of gaining some market share in this industry. One of the marketing tactics used is penetration pricing, where customers were given a small cup of free coffee every morning from 4 to 7 am. McDonald's was hoping such effort would help promote its new coffee products through the spread of mouth from its customers. In the United States, value pricing refers to the method of charging a fairly low price for high-quality offerings, which is often used to provide "value" offering to retain sales when companies are forced by external factors such as increasing competition or even economy downturn. McDonald's "Dollar Menu" is a good example of value pricing. The story behind the "Dollar Menu" is closely related to the economy downturn and increasing competition in the fast food business. "Dollar Menu" provides a variety of products within a price range of US$0.50 to $1.50, and hence, it is able to satisfy such economy climate when customers are looking for economical and affordable products. Hence, the "Dollar Menu" is hailed as the most economical product line introduced by McDonald's in its history. Another evident example is McDonald's "McValue Lunch" menu in Malaysia and Singapore, where it was developed for similar reasons. McDonald's pricing faces different influences that could impact on its pricing strategies. Some of these influences are easily identified as their effects on its pricing strategies are evident. Some of the influences are: A. Global economy as a global brand, McDonald's is bound to be sensitive to global economic situation due to its operations in almost every part of the world. During the economic downturn, customers' purchasing power was severely affected due to job loss, salary cut or even reduced business profits and hence, eating into expenditure on food, particularly on fast food. In such desperate times, McDonald's was forced to take different pricing strategies to attract customers to spend on their products by introducing low price products and one aforementioned example is the "Dollar Menu", where products are sold at more or less than $1.00 without comprising the quality of the products so that customers in any income distribution range can afford to have a cheap meal at McDonald's outlets. B. Market competition McDonald's has continuously faced stiff competition from its major rivals such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Subway and others, and thus, causing an ongoing pricing war in the fast food market. McDonald's has always offered competitive , and affordable prices for its products, compared to its rivals to maintain and expand its market share. McDonald's is often forced to adjust its pricing strategies according to its targeted market and to international currency changes. This can be seen from McDonald's so-called "Big Mac Index", where it compares the prices of Big Mac in different countries. Based on this study, McDonald's Big Mac costs about $2.18 and $2.25 in China and Malaysia respectively compared to $3.71 for the same burger in United States. It can be seen in a way that some countries enjoy cheaper McDonald's products than in other countries, due to undervalued currency in different periods of time. Another factor is McDonald's supply chains, when McDonald's goes global in particular countries, it would work towards sourcing all its products within that country. By doing so, McDonald's can establish business relationships with local businesses and also obtain cheaper sources of raw materials and distribution channels with their quality continuously inspected to meet McDonald's expectations. For example, McDonald's in India work with 38 local suppliers on a long term basis for its supply of raw materials like chicken, vegetables and others. All these have a huge effect on McDonald's pricing on its products as it could offer cheaper or more affordable products compared to its competitors in the local market. McDonald's Marketing Communication An organization’s marketing strategies are incomplete without considering the best ways to communicating with customers and consumers. Marketers eventually identify their target market and segmentation to focusing on them and delivering or producing products to meet the customer’s needs and wants. The main issue to be considered is the effectiveness in communicating with prospective customers, about the products to ensure the customer aware the existence and availability of products. Superior communicating abilities create a high degree of appreciation and strengthen the customer relationship between producer and customer. A platform for enhancing the competitive advantage for a marketer or producer will become ease when they are the first party to reach the customers with their products. Quality product information and introduction speed in product delivery and after sales services, reasonable cost for value added products, reliability in creating new and enriched products frequently, dependability in providing harmless products and listening to customers feedbacks actively establish a well-built conversation between producer or marketer and customers. This will create a powerful brand positioning among the customers and minimize their alternative choices for the same kind of products because valuable communication actions by the marketers cultivate “near to heart” feelings and thoughts among customers, retain customers for long periods and then successfully transform them to become loyal customers who never say "yes" to other same kind of products even though highly persuaded by other marketers. Communication is an important action plan that must be handled with proper approaches and methods in order to show that the customers they are valued and appreciated all the time, while they are enjoying the benefits for purchasing the products. McDonald's is the best and the pioneer compared to other competitors in the same field of fast food marketers when it comes to communicating with customers. All the elements about communication as explained above reflect McDonald's marketers' efforts to keep them connected to their customers all the time. The three main considerations of McDonald are to provide “low price", "limited menu" and "fast service" to their respective customers. McDonald’s communication actions can be categorized into 4 sections: A. Promotion B. Distribution channels C. Customer relationship management D. Social and environmental responsibility Promotion “Think Global, Act Local” is the main tag line in McDonald’s promotion strategy which is enforced to connect all its customers worldwide with culturally significant ways and enable customers to react to any type of promotional actions immediately. McDonald's has succeeded in bringing its popular strap line “I’m Lovin It” to customers' minds when they are thinking of purchasing fast food. From time to time, McDonald's also changes its promotion strategy in order to connect to its customers' daily actions with the help of media, social groups, websites and also social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. McDonald’s also has an attractive promotional effort by discounting the meal price for a certain period of time. Example: The McValue breakfast is discounted from a period from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and the McValue lunch is discounted from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Promotion methods: Meal Discount and “Drive thru” facilities. Television and Advertisements An advertisement was made to promote the new McDonald’s menus, and radio attracting customers with speedy deliver. To grab an audience's attention the advertisement used “emotion” as a strategy. Most of McDonald's television and radio advertisements aim to localize its brand in different countries. McDonald's Signboard All the McDonald's fast food outlets around the world place its "M" logo higher to differentiate them from its competitors so that it can be easily identified by its customers. Sponsorship of Sports Events Many global sports events are sponsored by McDonald's with the aim of major creating a paradigm that McDonald's is a brand that is accepted and promoted worldwide. Some of these major sports events are FIFA World Cup in 2002 and the Olympic Games. Movie Merchandise McDonald's have continuously sold Hollywood movie merchandise and promotion given them as gifts for the purchase of certain McDonald's products in different promotional periods. Some of these Hollywood movies are "Avatar" and "Space Jam". Public Relation McDonald's organizes activities to encourage people to participate in them and give attractive prices in order to create a sense of appreciation and strengthen the relationship between marketers and customers. One such activity is the "Wow-Police Fit and Firm" campaign, organized in Thailand to promote the importance of staying healthy. McDonald's also connect with people through the internet, encourage them to choose their favorite menu in McDonald's and welcome customers' suggestions to improve its menu when necessary. Public Communities Ronald McDonald House Charities operates in 27 countries with more than 160 branches, concentrating on issues faced by families and children and helping to solve their issues as soon as possible. The main aim of this effort is to improve the lives of underprivileged people. Mobile Phone Marketing McDonald's advertises its breakfast menu through mobile campaign (advertising through the short message service or SMS services). For example, the weather channel iPhone application embedded with mobile banner advertisements included a McDonald's banner advertisement with the tagline "The Dollar Menu is now at breakfast". Social Advertisement McDonald's facebook page sets up a platform to promote and share information of its products. Delivery channels selecting a perfect delivery channel eases the communication between producer and customers by creating a smooth pathway from the production of a product or service to purchasing and end using of it by customers. McDonald’s is practicing intensive distribution through many of its restaurants that offer their products and services. Therefore, the franchise distribution channels are the perfect way to deliver consistent quality products wherever the customers travel. McDonald's has 32,737 restaurants worldwide, and they maintain and sustain the same degree of culture to standardize their working environment and serviceability in order to cope with their respective customers' experience and expectations. The location to build and open a McDonald's outlet is the main element for collecting maximum number of customers within a population, and the outlets are opened only after conducting in-depth studies on strategic locations which are surrounded by, prospective customers and away from their competitors. Approximately 58 million people are served by McDonald’s every day, and is possible because of the operational effectiveness of every restaurant. The “24 hours” concept has also been implemented by McDonald's. McDonald's restaurants are open in the early hours of the morning to entertain the people who stay up late into the night. The adoption of the "24 hours" concept shows how much McDonald's appreciate all the different types of customers and points out that McDonald's is trying to grab all the business opportunities regardless of time periods in a day. The introduction of WiFi zone at McDonald's outlets is another idea which encourages customers to stay longer at its outlets to browse the internet after having their meal. Eventually, this newly provided service is a marketing tactic to encourage these customers to spend on other McDonald's products like snacks or desserts while they stay longer at their restaurants. In addition, McDonald's is also the first fast food company that comes up with the idea of “24 Hour McDelivery service” where orders made by customers via phone calls or online will be delivered to their doorsteps within a fixed period of time. This service helps customers save their time and energy to purchase its products from their restaurants and at the same time, creates a sense of “being valued” among the customers. McDonald's also struck a 10 year global marketing agreement with the Walt Disney Company. This marketing agreement is seen as one of the finest marketing efforts for both companies, as it involves measures to promote products from both companies (i.e. Happy Meal by McDonald's and Walt Disney Company amusement parks). For instance, McDonald's will be able to serve a huge amount of visitor’s particularly young kids and women who have visited Walt Disney amusement parks like "Frontierland" and "Adventureland" at McDonald's kiosks and restaurants within these amusement parks. All in all, McDonald's marketers are very well aware of the meaning of the idiom "survival of the fittest". Hence, they are always identifying ways to connect with its customers and stay close to them so that they can successfully implement these ways to market McDonald's to the people. Customer Relationship Management McDonalds customer relationship management (CRM) has been heavily involved in changing people's food and eating habits around the world. The world has defiantly shifted from home cooked food to fast food and from healthy food to burgers and fries. Having followed and maintained the efficiencies of workers for doing their job well and to reach the expectations of meeting customers' satisfaction. The implementation of time saving methods in the preparation of any McDonald's meal is the best practice that encourages people to visit McDonald's restaurants again and again. This is the main competitive advantage that McDonald's part where “Operational Excellence” is practiced. McDonalds also has a motto that is shared among employees. It is “Serve from The Heart” and is to show their sincerity in completing or supplying customers' needs and desires. When you are hired at McDonalds they clearly tell each employee about this requirement and if the new employee can’t meet this objective then McDonalds is not the one for them. Currently, McDonalds is addressing the issue of “changing food values” and its effects on its customers. They encourage customers’ to contribute their ideas in the introduction and preparation of a new menu, and also the improvisation of McDonald's existing menu for better composition as "healthy" food. Based on where all the McDonald's restaurants are, the company moves to attract local customers using the “Family Centric” concept. McDonald's names their restaurants “McDonald’s Family Restaurant” where people would choose McDonald's as their top destination for meals due to its clean, comfortable and stress free environment which is particularly suitable for working families. McDonald's is the best in the fast food business in nurturing their strong relationships with customers; the company has taken the most significant action that is the reduction of prices of McDonald's meals during recession. McDonald's is in fact joining its customers to go through the thick and thin of lives by doing so. This action shows that McDonald's is taking the initiative to minimize the burden of their loyal customers by cutting down the price of its products and allow its customers to enjoy cheaper quality food. McDonald's has been pushed into a defenseless situation due to the obesity issue. The McDonald's “SuperSize Me” option was globally criticized because certain group of people claimed that McDonald's was one of the main causes of obesity. This created an image that McDonald's meals were bad for people and parents were afraid of buying meals for their children. This was particularly bad for McDonald's and its reputation as their main target market is young kids and women. It also affected the fast food market as a whole, as customers faced a dilemma while buying fast food products from other fast food outlets too. McDonald's suffered a loss and had to implement a new communication strategy. McDonald's made aggressive efforts to clear up their bad reputation of being named a "junk food" restaurant to becoming a "healthy and friendly food these strategies are:  Change people’s perception and attitude towards McDonald's by creating public awareness of new healthy products which are harmless to humans health.  Campaign and encourage balanced lifestyle between daily calories taken and physical activities in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). Quick reaction to tackling this issue makes the customers, and people realize that McDonald's is ready to listen to the voice of customers and thus, building up a new image for McDonald's. There are three main types of promotion that McDonald's had come out with after initiating its new communication strategy. New types of McDonald's promotions are below. They offer meal packages comprising salads at cheaper prices. Promotion Healthy Meal Package: • Free Sport Coupons • McDonald's provides free sport coupon in collaboration with some sport centers for customers after their fifth purchase at its outlets. With this sport coupon, customers would feel motivated to do physical exercise and reduce the bad habit of unhealthy eating among customers • Donation Program • With every purchase of healthy food, 1% of the money will be donated to the needy. This program has generated positive results as people always have a higher tendency to help others, especially the needy. Companies are demanded to become more socially and environmentally responsible to ensure that their businesses do not violate any natural elements and living things such as animals and forest. Called Corporate Social Responsibility in the business world, McDonald's reacts to this issue with new efforts. One interesting step that McDonald's has taken is to change some elements from their familiar logos. McDonald's "Go Green" effort is an example, where they swap out the red color in its logo for a "deep hunter" green color to show its environmental concerns. Another example can be seen in McDonald's restaurants in Germany, where they change their refrigerators to new ones which use environmentally friendly refrigeration. Evaluation & Control McDonalds has an evaluation system that is fairly simple. They evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns by having customer’s complete surveys to get feedback and opinions which can be used for future improvement. The customer surveys will give the overall review of the effectiveness of their campaigns. They also look at the repositioning goals and the promotions of the healthier menus. They also gather sales figures that will collect and analyze data to see the effectiveness of a new campaign. This would be the most telling and measurable scale for them to evaluate the overall success or failure of the campaign. Conclusion McDonald's marketing strategies, their product strategies and pricing strategies is what makes McDonald's successful in the fast food industry. What competitive advantages that McDonald's has gained over its main competitors such as KFC, Burger King, Subway and others and summarizing McDonald's brand loyalty among its customers. The continuous success of the McDonald's franchise business concept originated from Isaac Singer, who is the inventor of sewing machine. Realizing the enormous potential and benefits from this franchising concept, McDonald's borrowed this concept and applied it as a food restaurant. McDonald's is truly the pioneer in the fast food franchise business and exemplifies franchise success as a fast food restaurant chain. They have committed to standards through formal commitment which is an essential factor that contributes to the McDonald’s franchise success. Their consistent commitment to standards of quality, service, cleanliness and value with using formal education and training to all franchisees to ensure the customer can rely on those qualities at every McDonalds they visited. McDonald's continuous success in product offerings McDonald's has been able to enjoy continuous success through its food products due to its involvement in product research and development. As mentioned earlier, McDonald's has set up its own food studio, which comprises chefs and technicians to generate ideas and create new and great products to be added into its current menu. Through the rigorous process of research and development, every item goes through intense scrutiny and detailed development process. McDonald's has been miles ahead of its competitors with consistently coming out with popular crowd-pleasing products in recent years whereas its competitors such as Burger King, Subway and KFC are still seen to be heavily relying on their core products to compete in the fast food market. McDonald's ability to come up with a wide range of quality products in recent decades has also attracted customers from different groups. For that reason, McDonald's can serve almost any type of customers as its products are now capable of meeting every customer's needs. McDonald's has almost become an automatic choice as everyone can get what they want at an affordable price under one roof at McDonald's. In that way, McDonald's has instilled brand loyalty among its customers as it has become an important choice of destination for food due to the variety of products offerings. Again, McDonald's restaurants around the globe have also influenced greatly on McDonald's brand loyalty. The convenience that McDonald's brings to its customers is basically a major factor in not only securing its customers and attracting new ones; it has also influenced people to be more inclined to engage in McDonald's products and services. This is how McDonald's build up its brand loyalty among people. References A.N.I.. (2009, July 15). 'Dollar Menu helped McDonald's through tough times. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://news.oneindia.in/2009/07/15/mcdonaldsdollar-menu- an-ideal-model-forcorporatesucces.html Bisht, A.S. (2009, January 20). McDonald's India Supply Chain. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/mcdonalds-india-supply- chain-729402.html Moore, W. (2007, August 20). Moore: Fast-food marketing tactics work well on kids. Retrieved March 12, 2011, from http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2007/08/20/60439-moore-fast-foodmarketing-tactics- work-well-on-kids/ [6] [7] Bloomberg Businessweek. (2007, February 5). McDonald's 24/7. 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