Mc Donalds

McDonald’s Corporation in the New Millennium

May 30, 2006

Team 3

Futurists

Ashley Caldwell

Harold Goldsberry

Courtney Hamm

Brandon Johnson

Introduction

“McDonald’s Corporation in the New Millennium,” a case in Marketing Management: Case Analysis by Teams, discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by McDonalds in recent years. The four main areas covered by the case included the fast-food industry in general, McDonald’s as a corporation, major competitors in the hamburger segment, and major competition in the non-hamburger segment. Since the case’s writing, there have been several important developments in each of these areas.

The Fast Food Industry

The trends occurring in the fast-food industry at the time of the case included new store designs, a focus by restaurants on the speed of drive through service, an increase in the number of non-hamburger options, more fast-casual restaurants, and an overall change in the eating habits of Americans. Store designs have continued to change, with restaurants such as Sonic Drive-In putting a new spin on its nostalgic appearance. Recent trends have been the introduction of the value menu that most fast food chains have adopted and expansion into international markets.

Restaurants are now focusing not only on drive through speed, but also on menu board appearance and order accuracy. The magazine Quality and Speed for Restaurant Success promotes a yearly drive-thru contest that ranks on these three categories, and accuracy levels tend to carry more weight than speed and appearance. Nationally, the average for accurate orders is 91.3 percent, up from 81.5 percent in 2001 (Baker).

Americans have gone through a huge shift in their eating habits that has left the fast-food industry struggling to catch up. The variety of food available to fast-food consumers is growing. Pizza and chicken chains grew much faster than burger chains in the past five years,...