The International Marketing Strategy Of Mc Donald's

Résumé du document

McDonald's company is a multinational which owns more than 30,000 franchises of fast food restaurants under McDonald's brand, in 121 countries. The company also heads other brands of restaurants, as Aroma Café, Boston Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Donatos Pizza and Prêt À Manger. In 2001, incomes reached 14.87 billion dollars, with a 1.64 billion dollar net income. France is one of the most dynamic markets: in 2003, the figures of McDonald's France business progressed by 10 %, to reach 2.2 billion Euros. At the beginning of 2004, France had more than 1000 restaurants. In France, McDonald's welcomes more than 1.2 millions customers a day.
McDonald's is the leading global foodservice retailer serving nearly 47 million people in more than 100 countries each day. Approximately 70% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local businessmen and women.
The international marketing of McDonald's is very interesting to study because it represents a very important model that consists in providing the same offer through the world with an adaptation per country. Even if this model is sometimes questioned, it appears efficient considering the brand image of McDonald's.

Extraits

[...] As a consequence, more than thousand restaurants of McDonald's have been closed. In 2002, McDonald's developed new strategies with one objective: to re- connect the brand to the customers. Focus on children in France Everywhere in the world, McDonald's symbolizes a restaurant dedicated to the family. McDonald's wants to be the privileged place to foster the relationship between parents and children. A strategy largely exploited by the American multinational is the promotions targeting children: the clown Ronald, the toys, spaces for play, the Happy Meal menu as well as birthday parties are made in order to satisfy children The speech of the Company The family's restaurant McDonald's proposes to its young customers a menu adapted to their age and their needs: it is composed of a hot sandwich, chips, a drink, ‘cookies' and a different gift every week. [...]

[...] But, on the other hand, the other points were made official. That was a victory for the two activists because it had an impact on the McDonald's reputation. Lawsuits for obesity Many people sued McDonald's alleging its role in increasing obesity. For example, in 2002, a group of New York teenagers sued McDonald's and accused it of making them obese. The judge rejected the charges as he reasoned that the plaintiffs were well aware that consuming a Mac' and other ‘super portions' of chips daily would increase the risk of obesity. [...]

[...] This concept does not escape the McDonald's marketing strategy, especially because young people are considered as an easily influenced target. The external communication of McDonald's is mainly directed towards the children even if, for a few years, the brand has tried to diversify and to reach other targets (young people, working population with breakfast etc). The advertisements targeting children take advantage of their emotional and sensitive feelings, for example, the family and happiness or a magic universe. A magic world In all its restaurants, McDonald's tries to transform the meal into a game for children. [...]

[...] In France, McDonald's has shown an unusual campaign. The chain gives councils information regarding nutrition to parents in order to protect their children from obesity. It recommends them to bring children to McDonald's only ‘once a week'. It is an unusual step for this company for which the advertisements are almost entirely targeted at children. In the same way, some surveys showed that children used to eat too quickly and thus they did not finish their meal (and didn't eat the yogurt). [...]

[...] Its leading position on a constantly expanding market allowed it to envisage the opening of 40 new restaurants in 2004. Henceforth, its expansion aims at the towns of 10,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. The development of the franchise constitutes one of the priorities of the brand for the next years and stays unmistakably one of the foundations of its success in France. McDonald's wishes to recruit 10 franchise a year over the next 5 years. Nevertheless, standardization is limited because it doesn't take the differences of cultures or needs of the consumers into account. [...]