STRATEGIC PLAN

Strategic Plan for McDonalds

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Findings1

Conclusion4

Recommendations5

References6

Strategic Plan for McDonalds

Introduction

McDonald's is the biggest family restaurant and the world leader in the fast food industry. The company has a global presence in 119 countries and serves tens of millions of customers daily through more than 31,000 restaurants across the globe. Particularly, in the UK the company is doing very well. It has about 1200 restaurants in a variety of locations. McDonalds is a pioneer in the concept of drive through restaurants. According to Jim Skinner (2010), the CEO of McDonalds, it is the UK world leader in this sector and is using the concept as a major driver to achieve its growth targets. According to McDonalds, convenience is the key concept behind this drive through restaurants based on which the company expects to create 1800 job opportunities in the UK on an annual basis, opening 30 new restaurants in 2012.

Findings

McDonalds started in the year 1940. Through the ages, the company has faced many challenges posed by the company's internal and external stakeholders, its competitors and the external environment. Despite its phenomenal success in the British market, the growing number of obese people in the UK has led to a concern in that the Department of Health estimated in its Health Report that if no attention is paid to the problem of obesity, by 2020 60% of the men, 50% of women and about one fourth of the children in the UK will be obese. Obesity is common in the UK, in that people indulge in unhealthy food offered by various fast food restaurants on a daily basis. According to Arthur Page Society report (2007), McDonalds has been criticized for offering unhealthy food that is adding fuel to the fire of obesity in the UK.

According to Harrison (2005), any corporation that faces reputational threats from the external environment should strive to repair the broken relationship with the external stakeholders, and communicate with them to clear any misconceptions and defend itself. So did McDonalds. It adopted strategic corporate response strategy to disapprove the claims that McDonalds had any role to play in increasing obesity and health related problems in the UK.

According to Chang (2009), the McDonalds menu consists of the typical fast food menu that is; it offers burgers, sandwiches, milk shakes, fries, salads and desserts. Burgers and sandwiched classify in the category of junk food and too much intake of junk food on a regular basis is harmful for our health. For instance, the cheese Quarter Pounder and the Big Mac are items that are not only junk food but also served to increase a person's appetite. Eating more food than the amount which is sufficient to fill you makes a person overweight within no time. Being overweight has health risks associated with it such as heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol. If we look at the nutritional value of fast food offered by McDonalds we can see that it is high in sugar, fat and ...