The Core Components of a McDonalds - Research Paper Example

[Teacher’s Research Paper McDonalds Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Core Products and/or Services, and How TheyCreate Value for Society Mc Donald’s is a fast food restaurant with more than 32,000 branches throughout the world. This makes Mc Donald’s influential in people’s daily diets and food consumption habits. The core components of a McDonald’s diet are crisp lettuce, pure beef, chicken, fresh eggs and potatoes (Mendez-Gonzalez).These ingredients are incorporated into various recipes that make the components of the Mc Menu. The most popular components of the McDonalds menu include the Big Mac, Chicken Mc Nuggets, Cheeseburger, Hamburger and Pommes Frites (“Food”). McDonalds was founded on certain principles and values that it has sustained over the years. The company provides food for the public and tries to fulfill this service in an ethical way that takes socially and environmentally friendly approaches. The firm’s core values are to provide nutritional wellbeing, environmental responsibility, create a sustainable food supply chain, provide employment and contribute positively to the community. The main aim from each of these values is to provide quality services at each stage of production. The company provides fresh food, using ethical means and productive partnerships (“Social Responsibility”). The company has also provided employment for individuals in 117 countries in the world. This reduces the unemployment rate and improves people’s living conditions in the community. The company’s menu caters for approximately 1,900 customers in different restaurants across the country (“Social Responsibility”). McDonalds is one of the most successful businesses in the world. It is the most popular foodservice provider in the world and has one of the highest returns on the stock market (Singh). The company has a good reputation and tries to maintain this by listening to the customer’s needs and catering for them in every way possible. The company is committed to the community and the customers and puts their needs first. Each year the company aims to enhance its sustainability efforts. The stakeholders in the company implement the best possible strategies, with the aim of finding new opportunities and setting new targets to advance and improve the company. Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability The company has implemented numerous sustainability programs and policies. The company has tried to work together with partners at different stages of food production to improve the conditions of the employees. In 2007 Mc Donald’s set a goal and implemented measures to improve the working conditions of employees in the Florida Tomato industry. The company only purchases 1,5% of its tomatoes from Florida, but it still implemented industry grower leader standards which helped improve the working environment. The company also tries to implement environmental friendly production processes. For example, approximately 50% of the contracted Cargill’s farms use modern generation systems instead of gestation stalls. This creates a better environment for the animals; in addition, new generation systems are comprised of more eco friendly components. Other policies implemented include providing the customers with nutritional information in order to allow them to make the appropriate lifestyle and diet choice. Mc Donald’s also tries to maintain a close relationship with its employees by creating projects aimed at developing the community. This has helped the company broaden its market share and improve its brand image. The company launched a Flagship farms initiative which is based in Europe and contains seven developing farms. These carry out investigations on ways to ethically improve farming and make more beneficial to both the environment and the people. In addition, it collaborated with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, in order to create a sustainable fishing environment. The company is also involved in philanthropist activities for children. The Ronald Mc Donald Care Mobile makes donations to under privileged children. In addition to donations, it also tries to provide the children with modern medical care and dental treatment. This has both physical benefits on the child and psychological benefits on the other family members as they are not put under stress by escalated medical bills they can not afford. McDonalds Company also aims to implement 100 million cups of fruit into children’s diet using the Happy Meal. McDonalds is a founding member of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (“Social Responsibility”). The company also has an employee value proposition which highlights friends, family and future. A survey among the managers showed that 86% of them are confident in their superiors. The company has also reduced the energy used per guest by 5.1%. This has been done by implementing policies which aim to control heating and lighting systems and improve the energy management. Steps taken towards achieving this goal include the use of more energy friendly LED bulbs, waterless urinals and energy saving equipment. The company has also taken recycling in order to reduce the waste of raw materials. It recycles the used cooking oil into biodiesel ful which is used by the majority of the company’s vehicles. This cuts costs for the company and also reduces the amount of poisonous pollutants released into the atmosphere. The company also recycles its packaging which is mainly created by renewable sources materials. In addition,. Reasons for CSR and Sustainability One of the reasons why McDonalds implements its CSR policies is innovation. This is beneficial to the company and the community in terms of development of new products. When the company uses less energy, it reduces negative impacts on the environment and also reduces production costs. Sustainability can also be used to implement different methods to reduce costs. As mentioned above, sustainability can lead to the innovative production of cost cutting products. In addition, the process of sustainability reduces costs because the methods implemented themselves cut costs. For example, less energy reduces the electricity bill and less packaging also saves costs. By providing the children with healthy diets, more parents will allow their children to eat at McDonalds. This will result in the increase of profits and sales in addition to improving the company’s brand image. This also coincides with the fact that CSR policies allow companies to differentiate their brands from others. Differentiating the company’s brand from others allows it to gain a marketing edge by providing products that are more appealing to the consumers. CSR strategies also allow a company to secure its future and the decisions made can have positive impacts in the future of the company. The CSR also allows the company to engage both its customers and employees. This allows the company to cater for the needs of its customers and also ensure that the employees are happy. CSR and Shareholders The company’s CSR activities also have an impact on the shareholders. As these strategies are certain to implement cost cutting methods, profits are likely to increase. Good CSR strategies allow an increase in the market share. They are likely to improve the brand image of the company, which will attract more customers and shareholders. This is also likely to increase the share value of the company. McDonalds CSR strategies have proved to be successful as the compound stock returns have summed up to 21% in the past ten years (“Social Responsibility”). However, shareholders have a larger impact on the CSR activities of the company. They restrict what activities can be carried out as their main aim is to gain interest on their investment. Some CSR policies may require the company to input funds, and this could result in a decline in shareholders gains. CSR and Other Stakeholders CSR activities can affect McDonald’s employees as they can result in a reduction of wages. In other ways they could also have positive effects on the employees as they can improve working environment and ensure that their needs and concerns are addressed by their superiors. The stakeholders who benefit the most from CSR policies are the customers as these activities are created to cater for their needs. They are given healthier food, which allows for an enhancement in the quality of their diets. In addition, putting nutrition information on the food allows them to choose their food according to their preferred lifestyle and diet plan. Other improvements in the company’s policies such as reducing energy used help the community and the nation. Advice In modern times businesses have to change their approach to satisfy the changing needs of customers. Nowadays customers expect businesses to meet their needs fully and use strategies that are environment friendly. I would advise Mc Donald’s to create a menu that has fewer calories as people are more educated and conscious about the diet they consume. This would not only help them increase their profits by attracting more customers but would also benefit the customers as they consume a wholesome diet that does not affect their health. The number of obesity cases in the country is increasing and by improving its menu, McDonalds could help reduce the number of such cases. Obese individuals are susceptible to cardiovascular illnesses and hence have a reduced life expectancy. Mc Donald’s can help increase life expectancy by reducing the number of unhealthy calories people consume. The company should also continue with its environment friendly campaign and reduce the amount of energy used (Kramer and Porter). It should try to reduce unnecessary energy waste and create their packages with material that does less harm to the environment. Social needs have become an important factor in the success of a business as many people are protesting against business which harms the environment and has adverse effects on the consumers (Kramer and Porter). Improving these factors and creating business approaches that cater for the needs of the community will increase Mc Donald’s market share and profits. Mc Donald’s can also create campaigns and sponsor events against obesity. This will show the community that the company is concerned about their health, which will create more loyalty among customers. Works Cited “Food.” McDonald’s. Web. 17 March 2013. Kramer, Mark, Michael Porter. “Creating Shared Value.” Harvard Business Review. Web. 17 March 2013. Mendez-Gonzalez, J. C. “McDonald’s 2012 Global Sustainability Highlights.” About McDonalds. Web. 17 March 2013. Singh, Aman. “At McDonald’s, CSR Is Everybody’s Business.” Forbes. Web. 17 March 2013. “Social Responsibility.” McDonald’s. Web. 17 March 2013. Read More