McDonald's: Corporate reputation after criticism of unhealthy food

Résumé du document

McDonald's is a large fast food chain with an international presence around the world. During the last few years, the company has been criticized by customers for offering unhealthy food causing obesity, and for dodgy corporate ethics. This is why we decided to study the international corporate reputation of the company. It seemed interesting to analyze the corporate reputation of McDonald's following the severe criticism from customers, and in critical books and films. We are going to answer two important questions.

In order to answer these issues, we will study its stakeholder relationship and the perception of the company that customers have after the criticism of unhealthy food. We will focus on the customer reactions towards McDonald's. We will base our case study on theory from the course “Corporate Communication” and other sources, internet sources etc. In addition, a survey will be conducted – we will distribute a questionnaire to international students and local citizens who either eat fast food, or just know of the company. Furthermore, the survey will include interviews of a focus group. Our time limit for this work is short, and we will therefore be very critical to our sources.

Extraits

[...] Let us look at reduction first the company is trying to reduce its waste, for example, McDonald's big sandwiches had a packaging that was very demanding in paper and natural resources. Now McDonald's use new materials like virgin fibers (as mentioned on http://bestpractices.mcdonalds.com/sections/1/case_studies/71?q). These new materials help reduce the weight of the packaging. Further, at McDonald's in Germany, the employees collect the waste themselves so that it is easier to recycle. All restaurants recycle, according to McDonald's CSR website (http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/csr/report/environmental_responsibility/p ackaging_and_waste/recycling.html), “over 17 tons of corrugated cardboard and approximately 13,000 pounds of used cooking are recycled every year. [...]

[...] So, the customers are aware of the criticism of McDonald's products but do not take it into consideration. As an explanation, we personally think that today, eating at McDonald's is an integral part of the quality of life and the culture. The American culture is widespread all over the world, and with the globalization the fast food culture is everywhere. Anyway, McDonald's has followed its CSR programs with other actions. Investigators would like to change the lack of quality and speed of the service in McDonald's. [...]

[...] The majority of restaurants have beers on the menu. To support positive relationships McDonald's all over the world uses local ingredients. It means that most ingredients are produced in the country where the products are sold. Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation, 2001) shows that the total number of staff in 2008 was about persons. The revenue is, however, decreasing: in 2008 it was $23,5 billion and in 2009 $22,8 billion Description of the case Today, we have an increase of obesity all over the world and in particular in Mexico, the USA, and England. [...]

[...] For Cornelissen (2004) corporate reputation includes three important elements: 1. “Perceptions of the individuals and stakeholders with regard to an organization, while the corporate profile is denoted as an organization's corporate identity.” 2. “Reputation is formed by multiple stakeholder groups.” 3. “Reputation involves an evaluation of the firm by stakeholders.” After serious problems with revenue in recent years, it is of paramount importance for McDonald's now to gain acceptance and legitimacy in stakeholder groups (customers). A reputation of healthy products would allow the company to differentiate their image from competitors and attain a positive position in the market. [...]

[...] Ray Kroc kept all the principles of the McDonald brothers: a limited choose menu system of production and kind friendly service, but added his own high standards of cleanliness. Quality service's culture, cleanliness and accessibility of products are the basic formal principles of McDonald's. According to McDonald's Canadian website (http://www.mcdonalds.ca/en/index.aspx), the first restaurant outside of the U.S. was established in Canada on June in Richmond and then in Germany, Australia, Japan, France, England and others. In the middle of June 2009 there were restaurants in 118 countries ( situated in the U.S.) with activities using the McDonald's Inc trademark. [...]