The Capabilities and Marketing Strategies of McDonald's - Case Study Example

Introduction: The McDonald Corporation is one of the largest chains of restaurants that specialize in the sale of hamburger fast foods. The company has a customer base of approximately 68 million people, who are found in about 119 countries. The company also has one of the largest stores in the world, standing at about 35,000 stores. The company has its headquarters in United States, having begun its operations in the year 19401. The founders of this company are, Maurice and Richard McDonald. McDonalds has diverse sources of revenues, and they emanate from royalties, rent, and fees that are paid by its franchisees. Another important source of its revenue includes profits earned from its operated restaurants. In the year 2011, the company was able to make a profit of 5.5 billion dollars, and this amounted to annual revenue of 27.5 billion dollars2. The primary business line of McDonalds includes cheeseburgers, milkshakes, desserts, soft drinks, French fries, cheeseburgers, etc. The Information Required by the Company: Recently, the business performance of McDonalds has been falling down, reporting a negative growth in its markets, and revenues. For example, in the year 2014, the business performance of McDonalds in Europe and America experienced a slow down3. In Europe, the company posted a negative drop of its financial performance by 1.4%. This is despite depicting a strong financial performance in its UK market. In United States, the company was able to post a drop of its sales by 1%. Another problem facing this company is its weak and inefficient customer service capability4. The company employees are not good at catering for the needs of its customers, and this has an impact in affect the loyalty of the customers towards the business organization. In any organization, employees of the company play an important role in determining whether the company will succeed or not. An efficient and friendly workforce would ensure that they are able to know and serve the needs of its customers, and this is the key to increasing the market share of an organization5. For purposes of improving its financial performance, the management of the company has to solve the above mentioned problems. There are two major methods that the company can use to solve the mentioned problems, and they include, improving its marketing strategy and its customer service capability. However, the company cannot develop an efficient marketing strategy, without having information on the strategies of their competitors, and the needs of its customers. This would therefore force the company to carry out an extensive market research, on the capabilities and marketing strategies of its competitors, the needs of its customers, and on the best marketing methods that the company can use. The company should also restructure its organization, and it should re-train its employees on customer service6. However, it would also be impossible to achieve this objective without having knowledge on the various needs of its customers. This is because its customer service approach, should aim at catering for the needs of its customers. One of the best methods of collecting information that can be used in improving the marketing approach and the customer service of the organization is through the process of social media analytics. This involves an analysis of the various reviews about the performance of the company from the social media. How the Information May Be Obtained and Transformed: Social Media Analytics is one of the best methods that an individual or company can use for purposes of carrying out market research. Through this method, the company has to develop or hire software that has the capability of looking for the millions of review, on the performance of the company. Furthermore, this style of market research is easily affordable, and the results obtained are reliable. This is because most people normally provide an accurate opinion on a social, political or economic issue through the social media. The softwares used for purposes of collecting and analyzing this information from the social media is therefore an important information managerial tool, that the organization can use or develop7. Information pertaining to the needs of customers is of critical importance to the company8. This is because the management will know the kind of services to offer, and the marketing strategies to use. Poor marketing strategies that do not address the needs of the customers will most definitely fail to convince customers into collaborating with the company. Furthermore, the aim of the company is to maximize its profitability. It is difficult to attain this objective, without the satisfaction of the various needs of its customers9. This is even if the company engages in an aggressive marketing campaign. Based on this fact therefore, having knowledge on the needs of customers is very beneficial to the company, or organization. The company has a weakness in its customer service. An efficient customer service is crucial for better financial performance of an organization. This is because the company will manage to be sensitive to the needs of customers, and provide a service that is of high quality. An efficient customer service will play a great role in creating customer loyalty towards the McDonald brand. Based on this fact therefore, the above mentioned information or knowledge is important and crucial for improving the performance of the company. The Software required and how it can be obtained: There are two options that the company can use for purposes of obtaining tools that can be used for purposes of social media analytics. The company can either purchase the softwares needed, or it can develop its own softwares, to use them in their bid of analyzing the various information and discussions about the company in the social media. However, the development of software will take a long period of time, and it is expensive10. This is therefore not a viable option. The best option is to subscribe and use softwares that have been proven to be reliable and efficient in this process of social media analytics11. Two softwares are recommended. These softwares are, the Topsy Analytics, and the Sprout Social. Sprout Social is a very reliable tool of social analytics, and it is used by more than 10,000 people. This tool of social analytics helps users to integrate with social media sites such as Linkedn, Twitter, Facebook, User Voice, and Zendesk. This means that this tool has the capability of generating discussion posts, concerning the capability of the company, its competitors, and the quality of its services and products. This is therefore a reliable tool that the company can use in market research, and collecting the mentioned information. Topsy Analytics is also another important social analytic tool that can be used by the company12. This is a very reliable tool of analysis, and this is because it is a certified twitter partner. Based on this fact, the company is allowed to maintain a comprehensive index of twitter tweets, which number into billions, ever since the company was formed in 200613. This is beneficial to McDonald, because the company will manage to receive every tweet that customers have commented on its services and competitors. The major disadvantage of this tool, is that it is only limited to the twitter social accounts. It cannot collect information from other social media companies. Conclusion: In conclusion marketing research is an evolving process, and this is because of the emergence of new information technologies. The use of Topsy Analytics and Sprout Social are examples of how the social media has affected the manner which a company can collect information that can be used for purposes of its decision making process. Topsy analytics is important because the McDonalds will manage to get data and information concerning its competitors, the quality of services and products its offers, from the millions of reviews that are contained in Twitter tweets. Sprout Social on the other hand, will help the company obtain this type of information from every social media sites. The company will therefore have a variety of information needed, to make a decision on how to market its services, and improve the quality of its customer care staff. Bibliography: Ananthan, B., and H. Appannaiah, Business Management, Rev. ed. Mumbai [India: Himalaya Pub, House, 2010. Top of FormBottom of Form Birn, R., and F. Forsyth, Market Research, Oxford, Capstone Pub, 2002.Top of Form Bottom of Form Cunningham, J., and H. Brian, Strategy & Strategists, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Top of Form Bottom of Form Hamersveld, M., Market Research Handbook, 5th ed. Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Top of Form Bottom of Form Lovett, J., Social Media Metrics Secrets Do What You Never Thought Possible with Social Media Metrics, Indianapolis, Ind.: Wiley Pub, 2011. Top of Form Bottom of Form Pride, M., and O. C. Ferrell, Marketing, 14th ed. 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