Marketing in Practice - Essay Example

Today global warming has become significant and doing something about it lies on the shoulders of such organizations so that the business sector can significantly contribute to solving the problem. According to Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1986, pp. 71-85), if the firm does not do so, its image will be seriously marred. This is because all major firms of the world are seen to contribute towards global warming like carbon emissions, using styrofoam packaging etc. the problem of global warming will be taking a serious turn within the next 10 years and is projected to do a lot of harm to the world.

According to Dev (2005), if McDonald's doesn’t start contributing now, its image will be jeopardized and the customers will not like the fact that the firm is not doing anything about solving the problem and in turn the firm will lose its customers and will not be able to retain its customers like it does today. A good image thus has to be maintained so that it can have a healthy flow of customers (Dev, 2005).As Gelder claims, global warming will affect the economies of both underdeveloped and developed nations.

The former would be affected more than the latter. With the changing climates, spreading of diseases etc. the economic development will be slower. Large funds would be required by the government to allocate to fighting against global warming. Transportation would need more maintenance, there would be fewer job opportunities, more oil would be imported, and more would be spent on reclaiming land and fighting widespread diseases (Dev, 2005). The developed countries might be able to sustain this but the developing countries would find it difficult to do so.

Thus the purchasing power of consumers may decrease and spending on fast food may become a luxury rather than a need. Global warming is causing climatic changes in several regions of the world. Another way of keeping a track on the information of customers is maintaining databases of customers ordering for home delivery. This is also a useful way of maintaining data of consumer segments (Werdigier, 2007). The purchasing trend of two years showed that in Europe for example, more orders are given for home delivery during the Christmas season and holidays (Pranks).

Thus McDonald's hires extra employees for delivery during the seasons with higher demand. A typical marketing database has information about the customer including his name, history of purchases, demographics and how long he has been a customer at McDonald’s etc.