Similarities and Differences Between McDonald's and Burger King - Coursework Example

Comparison Between McDonald’s and Burger King Introduction Food industry comprises of several fast food companies. The large companies in this industry include McDonald’s Food Company, Burger King Food Company, Kraft Foods Company, General Mills, and Kellogg. However, according to Schlosser (4), McDonald’s Company is currently the largest company in the food industry with about twenty-eight thousands restaurants worldwide. The Burger King follows McDonald Company closely. The other companies in the industry operate only in a single country or in very few countries. However, McDonald’s and Burger King operate in more than ten countries of the world and they are always making an effort to expand their market. This makes the two companies dominant in the current world’s food industry. Different individuals formed the two companies at different times. However, both of them operate in almost similar places thus becoming fierce competitors. However, each of these two companies has its competing strategy it uses to maintain its market share. McDonald’s food company has been more effective in the provision of products and services to its customers. This paper is a comparison and contrast essay designed to investigate this thesis statement in order to determine its truthfulness. Area of operation of the companies One thing that could be used to define the role a company plays in the industry is the area covered by the organization in the delivery of its products and services. The area covered by an organization can be used to identify the size of the organization (Singla 105). An organization is regarded to be larger compared to another company if it has more branches. This is because the number of branches is always proportional to the asset base of the company. Both McDonald’s Company and Berger King are multinational organizations. This is because they have restaurants in various towns in different countries. This is what actually distinguishes the two companies from other companies in the industry. However, McDonald’s Company has more restaurants in various parts of the world compared to Berger King. Moreover, McDonald’s Company has a higher rate of expansion compared to Berger King. This makes McDonald’s Company to have a larger market share in the food industry compared to Berger King. It also makes it to be more competitive in the industry compared to Berger King. This is not the only way in which these two companies compares and contrasts. Operating is similar environments makes the two companies to have several other ways in which they could be compared and contrasted. Products and services The products and services traded by Burger King and McDonald’s Company can be both compared and contrasted. According to Charantimath (497), features or attribute of a product or service are psychological, time oriented, contractual, ethical, and technological. The two companies operate in food industry. Therefore, both of them deal with trading of foods, and in particular fast foods. This is the most conspicuous similarity that can be observed on products and services traded by both McDonalds Company and Burger King. Moreover, both this organizations provide products and services that are of very high quality to their customers. This is because none of them can risk losing customer loyalty that forms its competitive advantage. However, Burger King has very few varieties of products and services because they have specialized in dealing with fast foods only. McDonald’s Company on the other hand has a very wide range of products that it offers to its customers on its restaurants. The number of products and services offered by a company can relate directly to the organization’s customer-base. This reveals that McDonald’s might be having a wider customer-base compared to that of Burger King. The two features that we have already discussed are not the only features of these two organizations. They are the most conspicuous hence the reason why they are given priority in this paper. Organizational structure Organizational structure is another feature of these two organizations that could be both compared and contrasted. According to Gitman & McDaniel (190), a company’s organizational structure is designed to aid the company to achieve its goals. The comparison and contrasting attributes of these features are not as conspicuous as the afore-mentioned features in this paper. However, it is equally significant to the earlier discussed features. Both of these companies operate from a single head quarter. It is from this headquarter that the major decisions about the company are made. However, minor decisions are made in respective restaurants in which they arise. Moreover, both of these two organizations have their headquarters in the United States. This is because they both started in the United States. In addition, both companies have a single CEO with several managing directors. The CEO makes major decisions in the headquarters while the managing directors make decisions in the restaurants. McDonald’s Company has an organizational structure that is less bureaucratic. This is because of its many restaurants that are distributed in various nations of the world. Burger King of the other hand has an organizational structure that is very bureaucratic. This makes it ineffective when it comes to expanding and exploring new markets. The features compared and contrasted in this paper are the major ones that could be used to judge the effectiveness of each of the organizations in comparison to the other. Summary and conclusion McDonald’s Company is compares with Burger King in several ways. In terms of operational area, both of them are multinational organizations operating in more than one country. In terms of products and services, the two companies are in the food industry; hence, they deal with provision of products and services related to foodstuffs. Moreover, both of this organization provide high quality products and services to safe guard their competitiveness. In terms of organizational management, both organizations operate under one headquarter that is under a CEO with directors in each of their restaurants. However, the two organizations have various contrasting attributes. In terms of the area of operation, McDonald’s Company covers a wider area compared to area covered by Burger King because it has more restaurants. In terms of products and services, Burger King has fewer products and services compared to those of McDonald’s Company because of its specialization of fast foods. In terms of organizational structure, McDonald’s Company is less bureaucratic compared to Burger King. This makes us to conclude that Burger King is less effective in provision of products and services compared to McDonald’s Company. However, this does not mean that it is ineffective in its products and services delivery when compared to other companies in the industry. A research is required to identify whether this could be true when the two companies are compared with other companies in the food industry. References Charantimath, Poornima, M. Total Quality Management. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd, 2011. Print. Gitman, Lawrence, J., & McDaniel, Carl. The Future of Business: The Essentials. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning Ltd, 2008. Print. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All – American Meal. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company Ltd, 2012. Print. Singla, R. K. Business Studies, Class XI. New Delhi: V.K. (India) Enterprises, 2009. Print. Read More