Introduction
Fast food industry is one of the most competitive international businesses where the players go out of their way to remain in the competitive industry. Competition is high and the three companies in this paper are McDonalds, Burger King and Wendys. The paper addresses the corporate issues, supply chain and organizational design. The challenges faced by this organization over time have helped them become stronger and more focused. The organizations in question have franchises in different parts of the world and they record numerous sales on a daily basis.
People have a demand for fast foods and this has led to the rise of numerous fast food companies all over the country. The companies operating fast foods normally franchise their businesses to make it easy to run their separate businesses. Those in charge of the businesses will then try to keep up with the standards set by the main office. The changes in management of the companies have enabled them to expand their businesses. Over time, the companies have managed to overcome most of the challenges and build a positive image for themselves despite the numerous issues facing tem regarding the nutritional value of their foods.
Burger King
Burger King is normally abbreviated as BK and it operates globally with over 12700 outlets globally. The company was started in 1953. It is one of the largest food chains based in Florida. This company operates internationally for various reasons. The company has a desire to serve and reach its customers whenever they are. By operating globally, they are in a better position to provide their customers with their meals at their destinations. Competition also proves to be a challenge when a company does not have outlets in different parts of the globe. Its major competitors have numerous outlets in the world and they provide their consumers with their products whenever they are. They have therefore, been forced to open up and diversify their locations to ensure that they put up a strong and competitive front.
Organizational design
Burger King is under the holdings of Burger King Holdings, which is also abbreviated as BKC. This is the parent company of BK and its headquarters is in Delaware. The company has over 40 subsidiaries under its name that are in charge of its numerous franchises in different parts of the world. All the trademarks of Burger Kings are under the ownership of BKC. It is also in charge of all operations and management of marketing strategies provided by the franchises.
Ninety percent of its franchises are privately managed and Burger King Corporation gives the licences for those franchises operating in North America. When it comes to international franchises the company always has a culture of pairing with other interested parties to provide services in local areas. In other cases the company may decide to sell the operation and administrative rights to the local operators that will give power over the management and administration of the franchise. In turn, the new franchise with all the powers will have the responsibility of sublicensing other stores in the region. Their other duties will involve training of staff to meet the international standards of operations set by the BKC. They also have a duty to make sure that all operational standards provided and used in the main branches are kept as new franchises are opened up under their license. Due to the numerous responsibilities given to the new franchise in change of local operations, they are always rewarded with free advertising and administrative support from Burger King Corporation. This serves to ensure that they have a common management front that will ensure uniformity in their operations. There are plans underway by the management to ensure that there are additional privately owned franchises. This will entail divesting most of the corporately own franchises and giving them to those interested in privately owning their franchises. The franchises have control over their working hours, and their preferences over their staff. This is because the company does not have powers to exercise control over the franchises especially the privately owned franchises.
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Corporate strategy
BK has numerous corporate strategies that seek to boost the companys success to another level. The company has a culture whereby it oversees the training of its staff. Whenever a new franchise is opened in a local region, the staffs are taken fro training to ensure that they are familiar with the operational strategies of the company. This will ensure that the services provided in different areas are similar and that consumers have a feel of what they are used to getting in the main franchises.
Burger King takes advertising seriously. The company has had to employ different advertising program over time. The need comes due to changes in their target customers and the changes in their products. The company has also had numerous slogans to attest to their hamburgers. Some of the famous slogan that have been adopted include as "Have it your way" and the other one is "It takes two hands to handle a Whopper. Lately, the company has begun adapting new advertisement strategies that seek to eliminate the use of Burger King and instead focus on the ingredients and flavors used in the hamburgers. The advertising program in favor of a new program that focused on the food and ingredients in its new advertising
New products are always developed by the company and then passed on to the franchises for approval. The company has adopted many changes in an effort to outdo its competitors. All this are in an effort to appeal to many demographic groups. The management added the value menu to its products to ensure that they outdo their main competitors Wendy and McDonald. Operation Phoenix was another promotional program by the company that sought to add value to their menus. This program was revamped again in 2006 where numerous products were removed and new ones added to make sure that they served more value meals to their customers. An important feature by the management was to ensure that the menus fit the desires of the local regions where they were operating.
Changes in management has also addressed the menu which was previously male dominated .this is through the introduction of the BK Chicken Tenders that addresses various nutritional issues in the menu. The Whopper, which is brand, is the most transformed product in the list. The company also acquired new equipments to do away with the mechanical machines used previously. This meant that the new equipment would make production easy. This includes the Insta-Broiler that cooks the burgers on both sides at once. The company also developed new monitoring systems that ensure that product quality is always high.
Supply chain
Burger King has various approved designated vendors who take supplies to the different stores. This is to ensure that the products served in its various outlets meet the required standards. Safety is also another major issue that forces the company to ensure that its vendors are qualified and that the products given out to the stores are safe and of high standards. The production facilities also have to meet the safety standards prescribed by the Burger Kings Holdings.
Wendys
Wendy is one of the famous fast food chain that was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas. It was begun in Columbus Ohio, but its current location is in Dublin Ohio. The company has numerous outlets and operates internationally. The company has 6650 outlets in different continents with its largest market share being n the United States. The company is the third largest among the fast food companies and offers traditional hamburgers among other fast foods including chicken sandwiches, French fries the Frosty. Recently, the company went into a merger with Triarc. After the merger, the company was renamed Wendy's/Arby's Group.
The company seeks to reach most of its customers and this is one of the reasons why they operate internationally. The demand fro their products is also another reason why the company has numerous outlets in different parts. Different locations provide different fast foods depending on the demand. This ensures that the local people get what they prefer. The need to open up new markets and reach out to more people is the other reason for their international business operations. This is majorly because of the many franchises being open up in different parts.
Organizational design
Wendy has numerous franchises in different locations. The company has over 77 percent of its restaurants franchised to private owners. Most of the restaurants are found in North America and it employs over 46000 people in their locations. Wendys set up the rules for the exterior appearance of he stores in its locations, quality of food and the menus. This is in an effort to ensure that the external appearance of its locations is similar and bear their trademark colors. However, the individual owners of the restaurants have the power to decide on other issues. Like the hours of operation, the number of staff and their pay. The owners also decide on the interior d?cor, the prices and staffs uniforms. Wendys does not have a signature sandwich like King Burger and McDonalds. It has the 1/4 lb burger that contains a square hamburger that acts as its signature. It is also one of the first fast food chains to introduce the salad bar.
Corporate strategy
The company has opened up a number franchises in different parts of the globe. The company has had to make numerous changes in its management to improve their performance. They had a need to improve its chain performances. Cleanliness standards and menus had to be changed to ensure that they remained in the market. The company ensures that it stays on top of its game with numerous marketing arms including the production placement in TV films and movies where they ensure their products feature. Advertisement is one of their corporate strategies and they aim at reaching their target market. There have been a number of campaigns, but most of them have failed including the "That's right." ad campaign. They later on adopted the animated ad featuring Luci Christian. Management ensures that they stay in the market and keep up with competition with numerous franchising deals and their latest merger ensures that they have the financing they require. This also increases their market share.
Supply chain
The franchises get their supplies from ventures in different vendor location. They ensure that high quality and standards are maintained. The need to keep their products safe drives them to make sure that any product that reaches them is safe and meets the standards set.
McDonalds
The reputation of the McDonalds as one of the worlds most recognisable brands has been a long and challenging task for its mangers. The enterprise manged to get this far by paying close attention to the needs of the customers and responding to the market demands even when the needs of the customers change in a short span of time. By identifying the target market, McDonalds were able to come with products that suit their consumers healthwise. Their traget market consists of young youths who are concious of their health, young mothers and children. This mesns that it has to come up with products that are safe to consume and serve the energy needs of this groups.
Corporate strategy
McDonalds through its corporate managers has managed to acquire inefficient and poorly managed firms and then creating value by installing their superior internal governance. McDonalds business has been able to apply restructure strategy in its products, which has given it a competitive advantage. There have been so many approaches since the foundation of the business that it is hard to account for them all. In terms of its products, McDonald has transformed the fast food industry and positioned itself as the market head with friendly priced, eminence food and provided a pleasurable environment for the children. For instance, McDonalds breakfast menu, salads, chicken McNuggets, and the McLean Deluxe sandwich are examples of how the company has tried to appeal to a wider range of consumers.
The introduction of Egg McMuffin enabled the business to accommodate consumers of the breakfast market. More so, McDonald tries a few new conceptions in diverse parts of the state to find the mainly capable new list of options. Some of the recent McDonalds acquisitions include Boston Market, Chipotle, and Donatos Pizza. More so, these acquisitions are all over the world as McDonald has over 30,000 branches in 120 countries.
The strategies employed by McDonalds through acquisitions and restructure have been effective in giving the business a competitive advantage over other similar businesses. Acquiring weaker businesses in the market ensures McDonald has minimal competition from any upcoming businesses. Acquisitions enable a business to dominate the market and, therefore, capture most of the customers. Through acquisitions, companies can create a monopoly and hence market dominance. On the product restructuring strategy, McDonald has gained competitive advantage over other competitors. McDonalds product value is also its greatest strength. Through product restructure, customers know what to look forward to when they walk in to a McDonald store. This strategy gives significant emphasis to human resources by satisfying both the customer and the employees. In addition, innovation of products ensures that the new products line up to catch up with the new trends and tastes of people. From this point of view, McDonald gains a competitive advantage over its competitors.
Supply chain
McDonalds gets its supplies from vendors located in various parts of the globe. Its franchises get them a, but they have to make sure they pass the standards and safety measures put in place to ensure they are of high quality.
Conclusion
The competition in the fast food industry is very high with the biggest payers going out of their way to make sure they have a huge market share. To keep up with the high competition and changes in the environment they have to make sure they are on top of their game. The three companies have so much in common as they both deal with similar products and the market they serve in is the same. Thy all strive to have competitive advantage over each other and by so doing they build bigger empires that offer better products and services to their customers.
