Current Market Conditions Competitive Analysis - Essay Example

For that reason, this paper shall undertake a thorough analysis of the history, products, market, and target price of McDonald’s. Further, this shall also touch on various issues related to competition in the national and international food industry, especially on subjects concerning price target, financial conditions, and market shares. Current Market Conditions and Competitive Market Analysis History of McDonalds McDonalds is the largest hamburger fast food chain restaurant in the world today.

It currently serves 119 countries with at least 68 million customers every day (Yahoo Finance, 2012). McDonald was born in 1940, with its first branch opened to public by Richard and Maurice McDonald in California. It was in 1948 that the restaurant adopted and advanced the standards of contemporary "fast-food" restaurant, which has already been adopted by White Castle hamburger within the past 20 years. Despite the initial soaring success and growing public patronage, the restaurant was provisionally closed in 1948 in order to revamp its services (Juan Pollo, 2011).

Three months later, the company re-opened with its newly adopted production line standards, which include the drive-in service (Ivanova, 2011). In 1955, a food mixer, businessman, and salesman, Ray Kroc, joined the company as a chartered agent. He later acquired the restaurant from the McDonald brothers and managed its wide-ranging, international expansion (Ivanova, 2011). Kroc recognized that if he takes advantage of the opportunity to become a franchising agent, it would expand the company worldwide, and would bring so much promise to his future.

Still in 1955, another McDonald restaurant was launched in Des Plaines, Illinois. Also, Fred Turner, who would later become the restaurant’s chairman, was signed up as a “counter man” (Ivanova, 2011). In 1963, the business started to proliferate at a much faster rate. It already had 500 restaurants (Ivanova, 2011). The restaurant had its initial stock sharing price of 22.50 dollars per share by 1965. Two years later, the company would expand internationally, beginning to open in US neighbors and borders like Canada and Puerto Rico until today when it has reached countries worldwide.

The company had big modifications on its service system, which include the first-ever Drive-thru. The first drive-thru was employed in a branch in Arizona. The Drive-thru system had become one of the most victorious enactments that the company had carried out. Not long after, the company began to flourish so rapidly. It had invaded Europe with countries like Spain and Denmark, as well as some parts of Asia, which include the Philippines. By the closing of 1983, it had an astonishing 7,778 restaurants in only 32 countries internationally (Ivanova, 2011).

Today, the company is heavily regarded as the largest fast food chain the world, with at least 32 thousand branches in 119 countries worldwide (Yahoo Finance, 2012). The concept and rule of this growth is to provide "high quality, standardized products to all customers" (Ivanova, 2011). Each McDonald restaurant is being managed autonomously through the company's franchising system. McDonalds Products McDonald’s products are basically classified into several categories: hamburgers, salads, desserts, chicken, pork and/or fish sandwiches, fries, soft drinks,