A market analysis of the McDonalds corporation

A market analysis of the McDonalds corporation McDonalds is a popularly known Market Leader in the Fast food Industry or better known as the ‘Burger’ Industry. Started in the year 1948, it has managed to emerge triumphant in spite of a number of companies entering the industry. The company has successfully established a popular brand image. In fact the growth of fast food has been named after the organization as ‘McDonaldization’. Marketing involves identifying what customers demand and striving towards meeting their demands. Marketing Audit involves analyzing the company’s various aspects and evaluating the company’s marketing strategy. It involves in bringing out the pitfalls in the organizations functioning. The following pages contain the analysis of McDonalds Corporation. We have researched the various facets of the organization functioning as to how well they have managed to reach customers. There has been an analysis of the industry aspects like the customers, competitors and the su ppliers. Also the Macro Environmental analysis along with the SWOT has been performed. We have analyzed the current Marketing techniques. On analyzing the current situation of the company and the market in the fast food industry we have provided some recommendations which might prove to be useful for the organization on its successful implementation. Introduction The statistics figures show that the global fast food market reached a value of $102.7 billion in 2006, growing by 4.8%. Meanwhile, analysts forecast that in 2011, the global fast food market will â€Å"have a value of $125.4 billion, an increase of 22.2% since 2006† (â€Å"Fast Food: Global Industry Guide†, n. d.). McDonald’s is the worlds leading company in the fast food industry. It has more than 30,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries serving millions people around the global. The company’s success was as a result of the policy they follow, known as the Q.S.C. Fast, Friendly Service; R estaurant Cleanliness; and a menu that provides Value). The company was first started as a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino by the two brothers Mac and Dick McDonalds in the year 1948. It was later bought by Ray Kroc, who was their franchising agent in 1961 and opened his first McDonalds in Illinois. The company’s menu initially consisted of Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, French Fries, Sodas, Milkshakes, milk and coffee, although it has grown considerably since. The company follows a unique business model described as the â€Å"three legged stool† wherein the three legs are the owners/operators, suppliers and Company employees. It is an organization that develops, operates, franchises and services a worldwide system of restaurants that prepare, assemble, package and sell a limited menu of quickly prepared, moderately priced food. McDonalds has pioneered food quality specifications, marketing and training programs, and operational and supply systems, all of which are c onsidered the standards of the industry throughout the world. Marketing Mix Every business organization must develop an effective marketing strategy. The 7 P’s is used to continually evaluate and re evaluate business activities. The seven Ps are product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning, and people. The 7 P’s are used to ensure that the company is on track and achieve maximum results.

Andragogy and Pedagogy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Andragogy and Pedagogy - Essay Example In the pedagogical model, the teacher has full responsibility for making decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, when it will be learned, and if the material has been learned (Knowles, 1984). Pedagogy, or teacher-directed instruction as it is commonly known, places the student in a submissive role requiring obedience to the teacher's instructions. It is based on the assumption that learners need to know only what the teacher teaches them. The result is a teaching and learning situation that actively promotes dependency on the instructor (Knowles, 1984). Andragogy. A competing idea in terms of instructing adult learners, and one that gathered momentum within the past three decades, has been dubbed andragogy ("Individualizing" 2007). The growth and development of andragogy as an alternative model of instruction has helped to remedy this situation and improve the teaching of adults ("Individualizing" 2007). The differing models. Andragogy as a system of ideas, concepts, and approaches to adult learning was introduced to adult educators in the United States by Malcolm Knowles (1975, 1980, 1984). The pedagogical model is a content model concerned with the transmitting of information and skills. For example, the teacher decides in advance what knowledge or skill needs to be transmitted, arranges this body of content into logical units, selects the most efficient means for transmitting this content (lectures, readings, lab exercises, films, tapes, for example), and then develops a plan for presenting these units in some sequence (Knowles 1973). By contrast, the andragogical model is a process concerned with providing procedures and resources for helping learners acquire information and skills. In this model, the teacher (facilitator, change-agent, consultant) prepares a set of procedures for involving the learners in a process that includes (a) establishing a climate conducive to learning, (b) creating a mechanism for mutual planning, (c) diagnosing the needs of learning, (d) formulating program objectives (content) that will satisfy these needs, (e) designing a pattern of learning experiences, (f) conducting these learning experiences with suitable techniques and materials, and (g) evaluating the learning outcomes and re-diagnosing learning needs (Knowles 1973). In order to further distinguish between the pedagogical and andragogical approaches to design and operate adult educational programs, Knowles (1973) compared his andragogical model of human resource development with that used by most traditional educators, which he called a pedagogical model. The dissenters. Opponents to Knowles' concept preferred to view education as a single fundamental human process and felt that even though there were differences between children and adults, the learning activities of men and women were essentially the same as those of boys and girls. They rejected andragogy as an organizing principle in adult education and perceived it as a technique. Some of these were Houle (1972), London (1973) and Elias (1979) who questioned andragogy's theoretical status, general utility, and how it was different from

Organisational Change And Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Organisational Change And Development - Essay Example It has three stages or phases, viz. design, planning and implementation. As much as organizations differ in their internal leadership and cultural set up, the theoretical approaches to change also differ. For instance there are entrepreneurial, bureaucratic and autocratic organizations or/and leadership styles. They need equally diverse and effective theoretical approaches for change. Nowadays nature and the needs of the organizations are changing rapidly and organizational development is changing to meet the changing need of the organization. Thus typical organizational development activities include some forms such as team building, organizational assessment, carrier development, training, coaching, leadership development and change management. It is aim to improve health and effectiveness of the individual and organizational level. It was Kurt Lewin who first suggested a model based on force field. According to Lewin a typical business organization is in equilibrium at a given time. Two opposing forces act on the organization to bring it in to equilibrium. These forces were named by him as driving forces and restraining forces. The former consists of those elements within the organization seeking to change the direction of the organization constantly while the latter is opposed to such changes. When these two forces match each other's strength, the organization would not experience any disequilibrium. However when the driving forces become stronger change becomes inevitable. Thus the organization moves in to a new equilibrium. Thus Lewin came up with new ideas of group dynamics and action research based on organizational development process which is a growing field in many modern organizational approaches. It is often connected with organizational effectiveness.Another theoretical construct on organizational c hange is based on research carried out by Rosabeth Moss Kanter who argued that it is not necessary to have the backing of the management to bring about change. For instance according to this theory the organization requires authority power, vision, leadership, management and cultural change so that a better view of the organization's capabilities can be obtained. However Kanter suggested that irrespective of where a certain individual employee is in the organization there would be no exclusive power given to one of them to change the organization. These theories were followed by some other not so important variants. Analysis During the past two decades organizational change and development has become a very important aspect in the modern day management practice. Change is more appropriate when everything else has failed to ensure the continuous survival of the business (Clark, 1999). However change and development in itself might not be desirable when the degree of resistance to change becomes stronger because when resistance gathers momentum that in itself is an indicator of the existence of other solutions. If organizational change and development were focused on improving critical success factors related to financial management, Human Resource