Customer Force

Customers are major forces which affect McDonald's daily operations and long-term strategic planning. McDonald's aspires to be the best fast-food restaurant in the industry. Being the best involves anticipating and meeting customer demands in an ethical yet profitable manner. For over 50 years and through 47 million customers, McDonald's has been able to carve out a legacy. This legacy could only be attained by fulfilling a need and consistently strategizing to incorporate it into McDonald's corporate mission.

Recently, there has been much controversy over McDonalds and the nutritional content of its menu. There were two incidents that caused this. Most notably, a 2004 film called "Super-size Me" that documented the weight gain and health detriment caused by a 30-day diet consisting of only McDonalds. There was also a law suit filed by two Brooklyn teenagers that claimed McDonalds was responsible for their obesity and fledgling health. This negative publicity coupled with customers' desire for more health-conscious products caused a loss in profits for McDonalds.

In an effort to reverse the decline in sales and improve its image, McDonalds launched a multi-million dollar "Balanced, Active lifestyles" campaign. Their strategy involves diversifying their menus to include salads, water bottles, fruit, and other healthy alternatives. To further shed the negative light caused by the documentary and lawsuits, McDonalds has donated 7 million dollars to the American Heart Association (Manning, 2005). They have cut back on opening new stores and invested more on their marketing campaigns. In addition to the marketing campaign, McDonalds will invest 750 million dollars in re-modeling their existing stores. Through these strategies, they hope to satisfy customer needs by offering healthy quality fast food at an affordable price while maintaining their core products such as Big Macs and French fries.