 Introduction:

McDonald's is the largest fast-food chain restaurants, and the most ordered food in the world. Dick and
Mac McDonalds are the founders of McDonald's, which took place in California in 1961. It was
facilitated by the initiation of franchise restaurants by Ray Kroc. McDonald's serves nearly 47 million
customers per day. They have almost 37,000 outlets in more than 120 countries (Ivypanda, 2020).
McDonald's opened a training center in 1961, known as 'Hamburger University". At the university,
employees learn how to use machines and prepare food and learn methods that help McDonald's Achieve
their goals (McDonald's, 2020)

 Operation Management Importance:

Operations Management at McDonald's plays a crucial role in supporting its position as the most
prominent and fastest-growing Fast food chain. Moreover, the operations management directly
affects the top ten decisions made by McDonald, by which the different strategic operations
departments and areas are represented. The ten findings that operations management effect and
decide are meal designs, Management of quality, design of process, strategies of location,
strategy and the design layout, HR and designing job, Management of supply chain, management
of the inventory, approving and choosing maintenance and schedules. The operations
management helps McDonald's productivity (delivery, rate of the stockout, and satisfaction
regarding orders) to be maximized in all the company (G. Lawrence, 2017).

 Operative Strategy (Extra for clarity)

Operational strategy is a long-term strategy that invariably forms the operations with
organizational objectives, business needs, and available resources. McDonald's has a multi-
pronged operational strategy of four dimensions: volume, variety, variation, and visibility
(wowessays, 2018).
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The 4 V’s

 Biggest fast food chain = high amount

of meals and burgers
Volume High
 Low operating cost
 Repetitive procedures
 Workers are specialized in their
assigned stations

 McDonalds is specialized in food only.

 They use the BTS (The build to stock)
Variety Low strategy
 Based on Routine

 Cost effectiveness and its presence in

the fast food category
 Based on Routine
Variation Low
 High demand on burgers and meals
 low variation in demand

Customers cannot see meals getting

prepared and wrapped and getting raw
Visibility Low materials from suppliers

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 The Business Environment impact on McDonalds:

McDonald's is one of the biggest names in the Food Industry. Business is sometimes affected by
the prevailing internal and external environment. PESTLE Analysis is the most appropriate tool
to analyze the business environment for global corporations:

1. Political:
Government rules regulate McDonald's; Health is the main issue for food business control, and
other topics include licensing, employment, laws & taxes. McDonald's follows both local
government and foreign investment strategies in its franchise business strategy. McDonald's
company also affects the local state (My Assignment Help, 2015). McDonald's gets affected by
conflicts between countries such as the US, UK, & Russia. The conflict led to strict rules on
foreign companies, including McDonald's & led to a change in the trading agreements leaving an
alien environment for McDonald's to operate in (F. Kiesha, 2018).

2. Economical:
Economic factors are still a vital issue for companies. The ongoing global economic decline
impacts almost all companies. As a result of international business operations, McDonald's faces
different taxation and revenue measurement levels in different countries. McDonald's faces many
difficulties because of the currency fluctuations, especially in global food distribution. The local
economic condition affects the revenue of McDonald's. If the local economy is essential, people
are generally discouraged from spending money on fast food. As a result, the company has been
affected, leading to a cut in cost or even shutting down stores to save the company.

Performance Objectives
The Performance objectives are used by organizations to delineate the acceptable performance
and tasks to be made on the job. Performance objectives are measures that managers develop,
and they function as a guide for the employees and the organization toward the goals.
McDonald's formatted and built its performance objective to succor McDonalds to preserve its
market share and its public image as the best in the industry in foodservice. McDonald's made
sure that the performance objectives are bright and suitable for the business (D. Barbra, 2015).

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 Quality
Customers look for high Quality; the company thrives on providing their customers with perfect
& error-free products. The quality objective guides specific actions in the company’s operations
to deliver a service that customers want.

One of McDonald’s leading emphasis is the Quality of food. McDonald’s entrenched regulations
& measures that ensure that all the storing facilities and machines are clean and meet the health
standards. A task carried out by the operation’s quality manager in McDonald’s is to make
inspections regularly on the quality of food and check the neatness of the storing machines and
facilities in stores. McDonald’s pays effort and a significant amount of attention on providing
their employees with training regarding the significance of maintaining high-quality standards.
Over the years, McDonald’s food quality and variety (UKEssays, 2018).

Employees at McDonald’s are trained to follow specific procedures implemented to handle &
prepare cooked and raw products when preparing meals. McDonald’s has a holding time of 10
minutes to ensure that customers enjoy their meals fresh. The holding time means that if the meal
and sandwiches are not sold within ten minutes from preparation time, the meal will be
relinquished. McDonald’s meets all hygiene criteria, including washing hands and the
continuous
cleaning of the station. McDonald’s ask customers for feedback, which made them improve their
service and their quality (N. James, 2019).

Speed

This is the time taken by the

customers to have their products
or services delivered. The
company aims to reduce this
waiting time to 95 seconds. The
objective of the company is to
achieve a drive through
experience and hence the
company needs to fine tune this
aspect. If the
company fails to deliver this
customer service experience,
they mind end up losing lots of
customers
This is the time taken by the
customers to have their products
or services delivered. The
company aims to reduce this
waiting time to 95 seconds. The
objective of the company is to
achieve a drive through
experience and hence the
company needs to fine tune this
aspect. If the
company fails to deliver this
customer service experience,
they mind end up losing lots of
customers
6
Speed
This is the time taken by the
customers to have their products
or services delivered. The
company aims to reduce this
waiting time to 95 seconds. The
objective of the company is to
achieve a drive through
experience and hence the
company needs to fine tune this
aspect. If the
company fails to deliver this
customer service experience,
they mind end up losing lots of
customers
Speed for McDonald’s is the time it takes for the customers to receive their orders. McDonald’s
plans to minimize the waiting time down to 95 seconds. McDonald’s objective is to attain a
satisfying experience for customers in the drive-through. If McDonald’s fail to provide the
experience of the customer service, the company will lose a significant number of customers
(UKEssays, 2018).

McDonald’s process of operations is well-developed that all customers are served quickly. The
company’s preparation time is applied so that all the products on the menu are delivered within 3
to 4 minutes. During times of customer congestion, employees make sure that customers are
served and receive their orders on time; this is done by increasing the workforce in the kitchen
and placing extra staff to take orders from the out of the cash registers and putting self-order
machines (N. James, 2019)
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Dependability
Any company's processes should meet its promises regarding the time of delivery of a service or
a product. McDonald's has more dependable methods for its customers by providing and
delivering their meals on time. McDonald's processes are dependable because they have workers
qualified to provide and deliver meals on time. McDonald's assigns staff to work in a specific
station; specific employees work on the frier and other on the wrapping stations. McDonald's
opening hours are predictable during both weekends and weekdays. The menu is fixed, which
means all the products on their menu are available at any time during opening hours (UKEssays,
2018).

Flexibility

The tastes of customers change, which means that McDonald's should expand the variety of new
meals. McDonald's purvey flexibility to meet the different requirements and the preferences of
their customers. They provide a stabilized collection of meals and sandwiches for adults and
children that are culturally proper, which leads to choices being maximized, which McDonald's
is doing it through Market research and surveys. McDonald's trains its staff to be more flexible
(UKEssays, 2018).

Cost
McDonald's thrives on minimizing operations costs to provide cheaper meals, attracting
customers looking for affordable prices, and increasing profit. McDonald's looks at their
Customers' requirements and want, which is the best way to reduce costs. Cost is a concern for
any company looking for competitive prices; McDonald's pays attention to it closely.
McDonald's acquired the strategies and actions to minimize operations costs, which enables them
to sell their meals at a lower price compared to their competitors. McDonald's always provide
their customers with deals & offers, causing to increase their customer base. The Vast number of
McDonald's customers put up to lower the costs of operations because of the economies of scale.
McDonald's plans to use machinery that saves energy to reduce the costs of operations
(UKEssays, 2018).

McDonald's has a smart strategy for cost, and It has a thriving and successful (lower cost) supply
chain. The company embraced a method known as the Just-in-time, which reduces costs of
nonessential storage. Meals are sold at a lower price than those of competitors because the cost
does not include the cost of the unsold food. McDonald's implemented a value meal strategy,
which enables its customers to buy drinks, fries, and burgers at a lower price when brought
together (N. James, 2019)
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Innovation
McDonald's is always working on new meals and options for customers. The innovation aspect
does not stop; it keeps developing and changing; that is why McDonald's has a research and
development team working continuously to make McDonald's different from its competitors.
The research and development team work accordingly with the marketing research teams to
storm up ideas for meals that would properly fit in a region/ market and meet the customers' taste
and preference, leading to a competitive advantage.

Contribution of operations
McDonald's operations and the strategies used are designed to help McDonald's meet its goal and
objective, which is to become the favorite place for customers to eat and drink and increase the
profits (M. Pauline, 2019). The operations strategies are a driving force and support for the
company. The operation strategy that is driving the company to cut the cost to increase their
profit and provide their customers affordable meals prices is that McDonald's buy their raw
materials from the suppliers in bulks and they maintain good relations with them, and they use
equipment and machinery that is more efficient; moreover, the following the 10 minutes rule by
which if the meal is not purchased by 10 minutes from the time of preparation they get rid of it.
This strategy drives McDonald's toward its goal: Provide and Maintain the best quality at
affordable prices". The operations strategy that supports McDonald's in achieving its goals &
objectives is training their staff to perform their task efficiently and assign them to specific
stations from the frier stations to the packaging. This strategy customer receives their order in a
short time leading to customer satisfaction (UKEssays, 2018)

Conclusion
In conclusion, the actions were taken by McDonald's and its operations management help them
to be ahead of their competitors and give them a competitive advantage. All of the operations
strategies work hand in hand to drive and support McDonald's toward being the favorite place for
customers, the biggest fast-food chain and increase profits, which is the company's goals and
objectives.

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