Caso Mcdonald´S
Harvard Business School
9-693-028
Rev. September 23, 1996
McDonald’s Corporation
Whether in Moscow or Massachusetts, the same experience would greet a customer in any of the 12,611 McDonald’s quick-service restaurants worldwide. McDonald’s had distinguished itself in the quick-service industry through its remarkable consistency across all units. To competitors and customers alike, the Golden Arches—the corporate emblem that adorned every restaurant— symbolized pleasant, fast service and tasty, inexpensive food. In the United States alone, McDonald’s served over 20 million customers every day.1 Although such a number testified to the restaurant chain’s success, it also suggested a troubling question for management. With McDonald’s already serving so many customers, how could it possibly attract more business? External pressures reinforced the dilemma. Demographic trends were reshaping American eating habits while competitors were attacking the quick-service giant from all sides. From chains specializing in speed and service, to those offering wider variety and those that featured deeply discounted menus, McDonald’s faced competitors poised to challenge the industry leader on all fronts. McDonald’s had built its success on a legendary operating system that amazed competitors and the financial community by generating an average annual return on equity of 25.2% from 1965 through 1991, and an average annual earnings growth of 24.1%. However, sales per unit had slowed between 1990 and 1991, causing management to wonder whether the company’s operating system, so vital in guaranteeing uniform quality and service at every McDonald’s outlet, was suited to the new circumstances the company faced. Consumers were changing: in addition to an increasing, yet variable, concern for ‘healthy’ food, there was a growing concern for the environment among consumers. A study of Americans in the summer of 1989 had found that 53% of those questioned had declined to buy a product in
9-693-028
Rev. September 23, 1996
McDonald’s Corporation
Whether in Moscow or Massachusetts, the same experience would greet a customer in any of the 12,611 McDonald’s quick-service restaurants worldwide. McDonald’s had distinguished itself in the quick-service industry through its remarkable consistency across all units. To competitors and customers alike, the Golden Arches—the corporate emblem that adorned every restaurant— symbolized pleasant, fast service and tasty, inexpensive food. In the United States alone, McDonald’s served over 20 million customers every day.1 Although such a number testified to the restaurant chain’s success, it also suggested a troubling question for management. With McDonald’s already serving so many customers, how could it possibly attract more business? External pressures reinforced the dilemma. Demographic trends were reshaping American eating habits while competitors were attacking the quick-service giant from all sides. From chains specializing in speed and service, to those offering wider variety and those that featured deeply discounted menus, McDonald’s faced competitors poised to challenge the industry leader on all fronts. McDonald’s had built its success on a legendary operating system that amazed competitors and the financial community by generating an average annual return on equity of 25.2% from 1965 through 1991, and an average annual earnings growth of 24.1%. However, sales per unit had slowed between 1990 and 1991, causing management to wonder whether the company’s operating system, so vital in guaranteeing uniform quality and service at every McDonald’s outlet, was suited to the new circumstances the company faced. Consumers were changing: in addition to an increasing, yet variable, concern for ‘healthy’ food, there was a growing concern for the environment among consumers. A study of Americans in the summer of 1989 had found that 53% of those questioned had declined to buy a product in