Jonnah May D.

Delostrico

1. What opportunities and threats did McDonald’s face? How did it handle them? What
alternatives could it have chosen?

Their opportunity was that McDonald’s had monopoly in fast food restaurant for a while.
In 1996 McDonald’s had 1860 outlets in Japan as compared to only 13 of burger king.
One threat to McDonald’s was the newfound emphasis on healthier eating as most of
their popular food in some way contributes to increasing cases of cancer, heart disease,
and diabetes among the population.

2. Before McDonald’s entered the European market, few people believed that fast food
could be successful in Europe. Why do you think McDonald’s succeeded? What
strategies did it follow? How did these differ from its strategies in Asia?

The main reason is the same as everyone in the market, it is to establish its brand as
rapidly as possible and be the first in the market. Secondly, the additions that were made
to their menu that is fit to the culture of the population living there. Example, in Europe
they sell pizza, in Germany they sell beer and in Norway they sell salmon sandwiches.
Where as in Asia for e.g. Japan the burger size has been reduced because they have it as
snacks and in Muslim countries they adjust their cooking and completely follow Islamic
food preparation laws.
3. What is McDonald’s basic philosophy? How does it enforce this philosophy and adapt to
different environments?

McDonald’s basic philosophy is to provide food with strictly following Quality, service,
cleanliness and value. To attain quality it has set up quality assurance centers in USA
Europe and Asia. In addition, training plays an important part in customer services.
Besides day to day coaching, hamburger universities in the USA, Germany, Japan and
Australia teach the necessary skills in 22 different languages with the aim of providing
100% Customer satisfaction.
4. Should McDonald’s expand its menu? If you say “no”, then why not? If you say “yes”,
what kind of products should it add?

Yes, they should. In some places in the USA, they sell vegetarian alternatives for those
people who are vegetarian and wanted something to eat on the go when they are in a
hurry. I think they should incorporate meals like that in here, since many people
nowadays wanted to eat something fast but also being conscious about their health.
5. Why is McDonald’s successful in many countries around the world?

Their success was because of how they provide good and faster service consistently and
has also offered clean ambiance with good taste. They also taken into consideration the
different culture or tastes from one country to another and changed its menu to adjust to
those countries. For example in European countries McDonald’s offer pizza, sandwiches
and noodles. Basically it had adjusted its self according to the rapid changing markets
and therefore reached the level of success they are in now even though the fast food
restaurant market is tough.