Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness

Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness

This paper analyses McDonald’s, a leading global fast-food chain, which uses various strategies and technology to survive the stiff competition in the food industry, putting it at the forefront. Globalization and technological advancement have forced the company to develop strategies to thrive in the global market. A resource-based model and an organization model are applied to determine how the company can utilize the available resources to increase returns. The stakeholders, vision, and mission statement of the company are analyzed because they play a vital role in its success. Our homework help will you tons of energy and time required for your homework papers.

Globalization

Globalization has significantly affected how McDonald’s processes and supplies food. With increased economic interdependence between continents and organizations, the company has grown from one restaurant to a multi-international franchise serving millions of customers worldwide (Waite & McDonald 2019). Through globalization, the company has become the most significant contributor to market share in the fast-food industry, offering a variety of foods such as chicken nuggets, Big Mac, and ice cream to meet the increased customer needs because of market globalization. The integration of trades and markets that allow goods and services to be shared across nations has made McDonald’s achieve the marketing strategy of expanding overseas.

Additionally, with globalization, McDonald’s has led to the expansion of cultures, charity organizations, and worldwide franchises. The company has led to the spread of American local cultures to many countries. For instance, the Coca-Cola Company has become more profitable because it is allied with McDonald’s marketing strategies. Through globalization, McDonald’s has several restaurants abroad. For example, about 100 restaurants have opened in China (Waite & McDonald 2019). Globally, McDonald’s has contributed to community development through charity organizations. For instance, in 1984, the Children’s Charity Groundwork was founded to support children worldwide through donations.

Benefits of globalization include access to various cultures, low cost of products, provision of employment, and access to a variety of products. The negative impacts of globalization and technology include homogeneous cultures, tough trade tariffs, global warming, and the decline of local industries (Hitt et al., 2016). We should find means of maintaining the positive impacts of globalization while eliminating the adverse effects. Lastly, improved infrastructural facilities such as good roads and good communication networks are required to expand companies across the world.

Technology

Another driving force behind the company’s growth is advancements in technology such as the internet, improved roads, and means of shopping and delivery offered by innovative solutions. Subsequently, improved network and communications channels make connection and communication convenient. Communication through social media platforms enables the company to get information about market trends and know which products are required (Waite & McDonald 2019). Besides, the invention of mobile phones with good internet connections has promoted online marketing of McDonald’s products. Further, McDonald’s has access to global markets through the invention of container ships and other faster means of transport, such as aeroplanes, vehicles, and motorcycles. The introduction of special containers for the packaging of foods has reduced the spoiling of products resulting from damage during transportation (Hitt et al., 2016).

Technology has also impacted how customers order food from the chain store. For instance, self-order stores, which are now a common phenomenon across the UK, have positively impacted the company’s revenue and bottom line. Such technology has completely changed how customers interact with the restaurant.

Industrial Organization Model

The main implication of the industrial organization model for most companies is to operate in business environments that offer the best opportunities for competitiveness and profits. The areas of concern for high profits include the four common market structures: perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly (Mathur, 2017). In the case of McDonald’s, the corporate system facilitates the management of markets based on performance levels. The company operates under a perfect competition structure to optimize profits through increased sales. Through this structure, the company produces new products that are highly differentiated to maintain performance in customer need satisfaction. With unique products, the company enjoys the privilege of leadership pricing; thus, high profits are earned.

Global hierarchy is in charge of operations worldwide. The CEO directs all business activities through managerial control and direction. When directives are passed from one organized source, they enhance performance and, thus, profitability.

Performance-based divisions manage geographic regions. The company uses performance as the basis for new divisions. For instance, the United States division provides immense regional sales revenues to the company (Mathur, 2017). Revenues generated from well-established divisions are used to fund new markets to enhance stability and profitable business.

Function-based groups consist of human resources, sales, supply teams, and market sustainability groups. The market sustainability group is responsible for looking for new markets and maintaining existing needs (Mathur, 2017). Consequently, new markets and maintenance of existing markets expand revenues for the company. The HR is responsible for management and resource allocation to avoid wastage, leading to reduced profits. The industrial-organizational structure enhances monitoring and control of operations for the profitability of organizations.

Resource-Based Model

A resource-based model enables the company to identify and exploit resources available for competition in the market to earn profits. The following illustration shows the resource model for McDonald’s

Tangible resources include land, equipment, materials, supplies, facilities, and infrastructure. McDonald’s access to raw materials enhances the production of quality and quantity products for sale to earn profits. Storage facilities such as warehouses provide space for storage. When there is space for storage, the company produces products in large quantities that provide huge profits when sold (Kamasak, 2017). A developed infrastructural facility, such as good roads and communication networks, enables timely delivery to meet customer needs for high sales.

Intangible resources include brand reputation, goodwill, customer experience, marketing strategies, and trade names. McDonald’s has high-quality products that have earned customers’ trust over the years. The brand is familiar across the world, selling in large quantities.           The company understands the market trends and customer needs. Over the years, the company has produced unique products depending on the customers’ tastes and preferences. Meeting the customers’ needs has made the company sell in large numbers, thus making many profits. The new market strategies for McDonald’s include researching the customer’s cultures. Understanding the customer cultures has reduced wastage, as the company does not produce what is against the customer’s culture (Kamasak, 2017). The resource-based model provides a framework of competitive advantage for organizations in resource allocation to minimize wastage for high returns. Organized management signifies proper resource allocation within an organization for profitability purposes.

Vision

McDonald’s vision is “To move with speed to drive profitability and become better than before in serving more customers with delicious food each day worldwide” (D’Urso, 2018); for the company’s success, the vision statement focused on three major areas. Moving with speed to achieve high profits, becoming the best than before, and serving more customers with tastier foods each day around the world. The company aims to grow and expand operations across the continents. As a competitive and intensive growth strategy, the company has opened more locations and improved procedures for improved profit margins. To improve the product, the company implements business strategies such as offering various differentiated products to withstand stiff competition from other companies (D’Urso, 2018. With globalization and technology, the company has access to many customers worldwide. With the mission and vision statement, the company expects to cover a wide range of customers in the shortest time possible while making high profits from selling delicious fast foods.

Mission

On the other hand, the company’s mission is “To be the customers’ favorite place and way to eat and drink” (D’Urso, 2018). McDonald’s considers the customer to be the primary tool while making the company significantly influence purchase decisions. Customers are the determinants of the success of the company. The customers will ensure the continuity of the business by buying commodities to give room for the production of other products for the profitability of organizations. The company influences the customer’s decisions by offering a variety of foods and drinks at restaurants (D’Urso, 2018). The restaurants are best designed to provide customers with places to eat and drink, thus generating revenue.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders affect the performance of the firm, more especially through consumer perceptions. For the company’s success, there is a need to minimize the adverse effects associated with satisfying the stakeholders’ interests (Kim et al., 2018). McDonald’s main stakeholders include employees, customers, investors, and communities.

Subsequently, employees play a significant role in the success of an organization. Stakeholders’ interests include good working conditions, career development, and fair compensation. The company addresses these issues by training employees, compensating employees for extra time off work, and promoting them to leadership positions (Kim et al., 2018). Through these efforts, the company motivates the employees to work for good results that improve the company’s profit margins.

Customers are the second-sensitive group in the organization. Customers’ interests include healthy food and affordable prices. The company produces different products packed in different sizes for other social classes. Although the company has been criticized for health issues, its products are clean and safe for consumption (Kim et al., 2018). A product that is affordable to customers increases the profit margins for organizations.

Investors are sources of capital for most business organizations. The main interests of investors include profits and revenues. McDonald’s provides a stable business operation to investors through table growth rates and new areas to venture into business (Kim et al., 2018). Stable business operations enhance business expansion and growth for high profit margins.

The interests of communities as stakeholders include environmental sustainability and community development programs. McDonald’s has promoted community development programs such as charity organizations that support children worldwide (Kim et al., 2018). With a good community relationship, McDonald’s is doing well in business. In summary, with the current competitive world of business, companies should develop modern marketing strategies and new managerial strategies, adapt to changes in technology, and use good resource allocation models to maximize profits.

References

Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2016). Strategic management: Concepts and cases: Competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.

Kawasaki, R., 2017. The contribution of tangible and intangible resources and capabilities to a firm’s profitability and market performance. European Journal of Management and Business Economics.

Kim, C., Kim, J., Marshall, R., & Afzali, H. (2018). Stakeholder influence, institutional duality, and CSR involvement of MNC subsidiaries. Journal of Business Research, 91, 40-47.

Mathur, S. (2017). Globalization in Fast Food Chains: A Case Study of McDonald’s. In Strategic Marketing Management and Tactics in the Service Industry

Waite, A. M., & McDonald, K. S. (2019). Exploring challenges and solutions facing STEM careers in the 21st century: A human resource development perspective. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 21(1), 3-15.

D’Urso, S. C. (2018). Towards the final frontier: Using strategic communication activities to engage the latent public as a critical stakeholder in a corporate mission. International Journal of Strategic Communication

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Week 3 Assignment – Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness
Overview
Choose a public corporation with which you are familiar from one of the following industries:

Travel.
Technology.
Food.
Research the company on its website, public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Filings & Forms page, Strayer University’s online databases, Strayer University’s Lexis Advance database, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions. Use the Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness Template [DOCX] to ensure that your assignment meets the requirements.

Requirements
Write a 4-6 page paper in which you address the following:

Assess how globalization and technology changes have impacted the corporation you researched.
Apply the industrial organization model and the resource-based model to determine how your corporation could earn above-average returns.
Assess how the vision statement and mission statement of the corporation influence its overall success.
Evaluate how each category of stakeholder impacts the overall success of this corporation.
Use the Strayer University Online Library or the Internet to locate and include at least three quality references. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as academic resources.
This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is the following:

Determine the impact of globalization and technology changes, strategic models, vision and mission statements, and stakeholders on a corporation’s success.