Case Study 2

Strategic Analysis

Developing a Competitive Profile Matrix for McDonald’s Corporation

As I compared the data in the Cohesion Case between McDonald’s (MCD), Burger King Holdings, and Yum! Brands Inc. it was obvious that MCD’s out ranked both of their competitors financially and by company volume. MCD serves over sixty million customers on average per day. MCD’s shareholders received five million one hundred thousand dollars in returns; this return on investment is most staggering when compared to the top two competitors. Although MCD’s revenue has always been good their operating costs increased by over two billion in 2007. Due to the increased operating costs MCD’s revenue was down 3% in 2009. Yum! Brands Inc. is expanding their customer base and capitalizing on their loyalty to their franchise through increased sales, therefore decreasing the gap between MCD’s. “MCD delivers consistently good performance (David, 2011, p. 29).

MCD’s restaurants expanded their operations overseas and now have 31,000 restaurants in over 118 countries. The expansion of restaurants overseas MCD’s increased their global sales 4.8% during a down economy. MCD’s seen an opportunity globally therefore expanded their market overseas by modifying the menus to meet their customer’s cultural diet. MCD’s global expansion seemed to be positive investment decision, until MCD had to cut costs by 40% in China to reverse declining sales. MCD has expanded their drink selections to include premium coffees which take on Starbucks Corporation this expansion has increased MCD’s sales.

As a person walks into a McDonald’s it is apparent that MCD has a diverse population of consumers. Due to the diverse backgrounds MCD offer a wide variety of products appealing to both the health conscience to the value driven consumer. While MCD has a wide variety on their menu, but when studying the amount of calories, sugar or salt in a particular item the amounts are staggering at...