

Just the fact that McDonald’s was the first company to go big with their burgers does not necessarily help them today. It constantly has to advertise what makes them unique to other fast-food places, which means there always has to be something different about them than anybody else. Wherever there is a McDonald’s, there are at least 3 other fast-food restaurants near it. THREATS: McDonald’s biggest threat is competition. It has also added more health concerned items such as the Asian salad and Premium white chicken. The menu has changed by adding more breakfast items and introducing the McCafe in certain areas.

McDonald’s started building newer building incorporating the arch, along with more modern furnishings. OPPORTUNITIES: McDonalds has many opportunities to change its look, menu, and customer service. Many of today’s fast-food customers are making different kinds of foods, like Chinese and Mexican food, normal to the everyday menu. The second weakness is an issue with trying to find new and exciting things to put on the menu to bring in new customers. These were unexpected changes, but all had to be dealt with by the newest CEO Jim Skinner, and directly after McDonald’s first ever quarterly loss in 2003. WEAKNESSES: The first weakness was the changing of three different CEOs in only one year. The advertising is very much targeted toward teens and young adults. McDonald’s also introduced their slogan “I’m Loving It” to reach out to the younger customers. Jim Skinner did so by cleaning up the customer service, cleaning up and modernizing the physical buildings, and changing the menu to the changing tastes of their customers. In order to maintain this, they had to reorganize the way they presented themselves to the community. His strategy had to consist of staying competitive with the numerous other fast-food restaurants popping up all over the world. STRENGTHS: Jim Skinner had to clean up a big mess after the 2003 slump, and did so by coming up with a strategy to turn everything around. He succeeded by showing that McDonald’s revenue had climbed 11% during 2006 and net profits had climbed 36%. Skinner was named the new CEO just in time to clean up after McDonald’s first ever quarterly loss. (The company has gone through quite a few changes with its changing CEO’s over the years, but the company seems to be on track with CEO Jim Skinner, named in 2004. In 1965 McDonald’s went public and was later, in 1985 added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

This was the very first Mcdonalds restaurant, which all started in San Bernardino, California in 1954 when Ray Kroc approached the McDonald brothers with a business proposition to start a new company. As a company, Mcdonalds was first introduced in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955.
