Why Is the McFlurry Machine Down Again - Case Study Example

Why is McFlurry Machine Down Again Name: Institution: Course: Date: Executive Summary McDonald’s Restaurant is one of the most popular fast food companies because it operates on core competencies such as standardization, highly trained staff, strategic positioning of its business enterprises, superior customer service, and franchising in the fast food market. McDonalds faces the challenge of consistency in its operations because of inability to ensure constant supply of ice cream to customers. Affect the ability of the company to develop and maintain customer loyalty to the brand. The company needs to introduce measures such as introducing new machines and training its employees on ice cream machine operationalization and improved customer service for business efficiency. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Core competencies of McDonalds 4 Operational management issues associated with McDonalds in this case study 5 How can the process efficiency for cleaning be improved 5 How can forecasting and planning methods to business operations within this organisation be applied and improved to overcome these issues. 6 Evaluate business operations decision-making, policies and strategies used by McDonalds and compare with other fast-food companies 8 Conclusion 9 Recommendations 9 References 11 Why is McFlurry Machine Down Again? Introduction McDonald’s Restaurant is one of the most popular fast food companies in the world. This is attributable to the ability of the company to engage in the organization of effective promotional strategies in different locations. The success of the company can also be attributed to its core competencies such as standardization, highly trained staff, strategic positioning of its business enterprises, superior customer service, and franchising in the fast food market. Highly qualified staff is crucial because they help in the realization of the organizational goals (Anil & Suresh 2016). The company has been facing the challenge of inconsistencies in the production of ice creams. According to the customers, this is attributable to ineffective machines and the inability of employees to engage in mechanisms that ensure timely production and delivery of ice creams to customers due to complications of managing the machines. Core competencies of McDonalds Standardization is among the core competencies for the multinational fast food company. This is realized through verticality where McDonalds ensures that all the business it owns or engages as a franchiser are operated using a common management approach. This ensures that the company controls the entire supply chain from the farm to the table. Additional core competencies include highly trained staff, strategic positioning of its business enterprises, superior customer service, and franchising in the fast food market. Highly qualified staffs are crucial because they help in the realization of the organizational goals (Ritzer 2014). McDonalds, through its unique customer service and product development plan, can adapt to any region in the world and maintain a high standard of products that they produce. This is considered crucial in meeting the needs of their customers especially regarding strategic positioning of its restaurants. McDonalds uses franchising as an excellent technique of expanding its products and services. Through franchising, the company has been able to attain financial freedom, which is crucial in guaranteeing a certain degree of success. Furthermore franchising has helped the company in getting its products to new level markets, which is crucial in promoting fast growth in business (Schlosser 2012). Operational management issues associated with McDonalds in this case study In the design and delivery of its products and services to its customers, McDonalds faces the challenge of consistency in its operations. This is considered an essential aspect in the delivery of customer service because it is a technique of developing and maintaining customer loyalty to the brand. Ice cream production at McDonalds is considered a seasonal activity because frequent breakdown of ice cream machines do not provide customers with the guarantee of product availability (Kogan 2017). The inability of McDonalds Company to ensure that ice cream production is streamlined across its outlets can be considered as the failure by the management to embrace innovation in the development of its strategies. The challenge of this approach to organizational management is that it contributes to the rise in quality issues across the outlets and franchises in the organization (Kogan 2017). How can the process efficiency for cleaning be improved Most McDonald’s outlets operate for 24 hours and this means that the employees do not have sufficient time to clean the machines considering the time involved in the cleaning process limits the possibility that the employees will clean the machines and produce ice creams for the customers. For the company to succeed in ensuring efficiency regarding the provision of ice cream to meet customer demands and engage in the routine cleaning of machines to ensure they maintain high standards of hygiene, it will be crucial to develop a strategy aimed at redesigning the process of producing and delivering ice creams to the customers in a timely manner. Part of this strategy would include additional investment in purchasing the machines. This may be considered a costly process because the huge amount of financial resources required in the purchase and installation of the ice cream machines. However, in the long term, the strategy of adding more machines and repairing existing ones would prove to be benefited to the company because of an increased traffic of customers seeking ice cream form the company. Furthermore, by providing assurances to the customers that ice cream will always be available, it will be easier for the company to accrue more profits because the customers will also be directed towards purchasing other related products offered by the company (Anil & Suresh 2016). Other than building on customer loyalty and maintaining existing customers while seeking to attract new ones, the process of introducing new machines would enhance the cleaning process because it will ensure that the employees set the machines to work at alternate intervals. Through this approach, the management will ensure constant supply of ice cream to customers since the cleaning process will not interfere with the ice cream making and supplying process. How can forecasting and planning methods to business operations within this organisation be applied and improved to overcome these issues. Planning and forecasting are considered as crucial methods of business operations. This is because they provide businesses with techniques of assessing their markets and developing strategies on how to improve on their competitive position. The inefficiency of Mcflurry machines can be considered as one of the major contributors to the losses that McDonalds experienced in its sales. This is because through such losses, customers begin developing the perception that the organization is unable to meet their needs hence giving them reasons to seek related services and products from other fast food businesses (Martin 2009). Planning and forecasting can be a beneficial approach in improving the efficiency of the business because it will provide the organization with techniques of engaging in the development of different promotional strategies to the relevant market. Through promotional strategies the company will be able to improve on its reputation in the fast food industry while at the same time enhance its popularity as the leading destination in the provision of high quality ice cream. At the organizational level, financial planning is also critical in addressing the problem of ice cream machine that the organization experiences. Other than the development of techniques on how to purchase additional ice cream machines that work on rotational basis to ensure constant supply of ice creams, there is need of the organization to improve on the level of expertise of its employees. Part of the problems facing the organization can be attributed to the laxity of employees in the provision of high quality customer service. From the case study, employees were reported to be unwilling to engage in the cleaning of the machine due to the complexities involved in the process (Boyer & Verma 2010). For the organization, it will be critical to plan on additional training of employees on their responsibilities. It would be crucial for McDonalds to hire and train employees who will specialize on the technical aspects of the machines. This approach would only guarantee success for the organization if the specialized sets of employees are allocated responsibilities regarding the operationalization of the machines. Employee training and allocation of responsibilities is considered as an effective technique that McDonalds can use in motivating its pool of human resources to ensure that they are more dedicated towards their responsibilities. In the process of planning and forecasting on how to improve on its competitive position, it will be critical for McDonalds to engage its employees in trainings on customer management. This will improve on the quality of service delivery and ensure that more customers are attracted to the business. Through customer service, training it will be easier for the employees to understand the best techniques of handling customer grievances and decrease the possibility that the company will lose its customers to competitors (Boyer & Verma 2010). Evaluate business operations decision-making, policies and strategies used by McDonalds and compare with other fast-food companies Strategic positioning, high quality products, quality customer service are considered as the most common business operations and decision-making strategies embraced by McDonalds in the delivery of tier services to their customers. The company has been relatively successful in different markets despite the challenge of inconsistencies in the production of ice creams across different outlets. For the company, this is considered as a management and operational challenge because it affects its ability to deliver quality products and services to the customers (Schlosser 2012). The main competitors of McDonalds include Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Inasmuch as McDonalds is considered as an established player in the fast food industry, the company still faces the challenge of retaining its customers because the operations management of competitors such as Burger king are based on consistencies in the delivery of unique recipes and quality customer service. For KFC this is realized the design and development of an operations management plan defined by a series of evaluation criteria such delivery, financial ramifications and timelessness. This ensures that the operations of these businesses are approved to maintain high quality standards (Schlosser 2012). Conclusion The success of McDonalds in the fast food industry is attributable its ability to engage in the design and development of effective promotional strategies in different locations. Additional success factors include its core competencies such as standardization, highly trained staff, strategic positioning of its business enterprises, superior customer service, and franchising in the fast food market. McDonalds however faces the challenge of consistency in its operations especially in the production of ice cream. This contributes to ineffective delivery of customer service. Ice cream production at McDonalds is considered a seasonal activity because frequent breakdown of ice cream machines do not provide customers with the guarantee of product availability. The challenge of this approach to organizational management is that it contributes to the rise in quality issues across the outlets and franchises in the organization. It is important for the company to plan and strategize on different training initiatives targeting organizational efficiency. This will improve on the quality of service delivery and ensure that more customers are attracted to the business. Through employee training, it will be easier for the employees to understand the best techniques of handling customer grievances and decrease the possibility that the company will lose its customers to competitors. Recommendations The management has the responsbility of introducing innovative ice cream machines, which are relatively easier to manage to ensure consistency in the supply of the product to customers. The introduction of innovative ice cream machines working on rotational basis will provide the company with a streamlined technique of maintaining customer loyalty. This will also improve on its reputation in the market The management at McDonalds can improve on its operations management by training its employees to specialize on different aspect related to the operationalization of ice-cream machines. Training will not only motivate the employees but also improve on their skills capacity in the operationalization of the machines. The management should develop techniques of training employees on customer management. This will improve on the ability of the company to improve on customer experiences and address underlying customer complaints. Furthermore, through customer service training the company will have techniques of tailor making its services and products to meet customer needs. References Anil, K. S., & Suresh, N 2016, Production and operations management. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd. Publishers. Boyer, K. K., & Verma, R 2010, Operations & supply chain management for the 21st century. Mason, Ohio: South-Western/Cengage Learning. Kogan, M 2017, McDonald's customers are fed up with not being able to order McFlurries. CNBC. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/19/mcdonalds-customers-are-fed-up-with-not-being-able-to-order-mcflurries.html Martin, R. L 2009, The design of business: Why design thinking is the next competitive advantage. Boston, Mass. : Harvard Business Press Ritzer, G 2014, The McDonaldization of society. Los Angeles : SAGE Schlosser, E 2012 Fast food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal. Boston: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Read More