Introduction
McDonald’s is the largest fast food chain in the world. There are approximately 35,000 McDonald’s stores across 119 countries, and they jointly
serve around 68 million customers a year (McDonald’s, 2014). Each McDonald’s is either run as a franchise, or by the McDonald’s
Corporation itself – in the UK, approximately 65% of McDonald’s restaurants are run as a franchise, and the remaining 35% are run by McDonald’s
themselves. There is a relatively stringent application process involved in becoming a McDonald’s franchisee – McDonald’s themselves
lists some of the requirements, including:a high level of integrity, business experience, experience within the food industry, the time and ability to
complete a minimum of nine months franchisee training, a full time commitment to the opportunity, and a high level of investor capital (McDonald’s,
2014b). Such commitment to ensuring the strength and commitment of their franchisees has perhaps contributed to the strength of the McDonald’s brand,
which is among the world’s best-recognised and well-regarded, particularly in the fast food market (Moskowitz, 2014)
This essay will examine the current business environment McDonald’s operates in through a PESTEL analysis, to examine the general external business
environment and the specific industry factors that may affect the business. The results of this essay can then be used as the background for a SWOT
analysis to highlight the specific strengths and weaknesses of the McDonald’s business model and its potential future opportunities and threat, which
should help to determine the best strategic direction for McDonald’s to take in the coming years.
PESTEL Analysis
A PESTEL analysis examines the external business environment facing a firm in 6 main areas; Political factor, Economic factors, Sociological factors,
Technological factors, Environmental factors and Legal factors. Though a single organisation is normally unable to directly affect the external factors
facing it, a conglomeration of companies can exert some pressure on these factors, particularly any political factors through the intelligent use of
political lobbying. Proper understanding of these factors allows the organisation to highlight areas of business opportunity when combined with proper
understanding of the business’ strengths, and also potential threats to the business when combined with a proper understanding of the firm’s
weaknesses (Baines et al, 2011). Thus, for effective strategic planning, analysis of the external factors is the most important step before performing an
analysis of the business’ intrinsic strengths and weaknesses through a SWOT analysis.
Political
The fast food industry is often a target for government initiatives aimed at improving health and reducing obesity, particularly in European countries. In
2003, after the publication of a report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) on the link between general levels of salt intake among
the UK population and heart disease, the UK government introduced initiatives to reduce the amount of salt in many foodstuffs, including many products
within the fast food industry in general, and McDonald’s in particular. In response, McDonald’s reduced the overall salt content of its UK menu
by around 14% (Food Standards Agency, 2005).
In Germany, a recent food labelling initiative required all fast food restaurants to provide clear indications of a number of nutritional factors for each
of their meals, including salt and sugar levels, calorie content, saturated and unsaturated fat levels, and a traffic-light label indicating the overall
level of healthiness, with green indicating both low calorie and low fat options, and red indicating high calorie, high fat options (Hurt et al, 2010).
Similar initiatives have been implemented in the UK, France and the Netherlands, though reports indicate that the introduced food labelling has little
impact on overall demand within the fast food industry (Grunert and Wills, 2007).
In Denmark, a government initiative in 2003 placed restrictions on the amount of artificially created unsaturated fats, known as Trans Fat, or TFA, which
have been shown to be heavily involved in increasing cholesterol and thereby heart disease risk., TFAs are present in many food industries that rely on
deep fat frying, as they can be used for far longer than more conventional oils while still staying relatively fresh (Choe and Min, 2007). Prior to the
imposed restrictions, a meal of Chicken McNuggets and Medium French Fries at a typical Denmark McDonald’s had, on average, 30g of Trans Fat. After
the restrictions, the same meal had on average less than 1g of Trans Fat (Hurt et al, 2010).
In the US, by comparison, the fast food industry is far more self-regulating, with little to no government intervention at all, despite many published
reports on the link between fast food industry advertising and childhood obesity (Wilson and Roberts, 2012). This is due to two main factors: firstly the
US political system as a whole tends to be far more committed to laissez-faire economics than even its most right-wing European counterparts – in
general, there is far more political inertia to overcome (Skousen, 2009). Secondly, the fast food industry has an aggressive and concentrated lobbying
presence in the capital (of which McDonald plays a significant role), and is politically savvy enough to avoid or negate any proposed regulation that makes
it through (Wilson and Roberts, 2012). The fast food lobby has thus far defeated proposed restrictions on Trans Fat content similar to those enacted in
Denmark, a proposed ‘soda tax’ on sugary drinks, and policies aimed at controlling the amount of sugar, salt and fat in children’s meals
(Wilson and Roberts, 2012). This helps to keep McDonald’s US profit margins higher than those countries where such restrictions have been
imposed (Schlosser, 2012).
Economical
The recent economic recession was incredibly disruptive for firms in many industries, reducing revenues and profits across the board, and decreasing
consumer demand for many goods and services (Kliman, 2012). However not all firms and industries were adversely affected – some actually saw
revenue and profit opportunities increase during the economic downturn due to higher demand – these tend to be firms and industries that are seen to
provide ‘value for money’, of which the fast food industry is one (Bems et al, 2010). Fast food restaurants can be seen as imperfect
substitutes for more traditional restaurants; many consumers prefer to eat out at a fast food restaurant as a cheaper alternative to a more expensive
traditional restaurant. In 2008, near the height of the crisis, the fast food industry in the UK actually saw increased growth in terms of revenue of 4.5%,
with an overall increase in demand for McDonald’s products of around 4% (Key Note, 2009). Other countries that saw similar increases in demand in the
fast food industry in general and McDonald’s in particular include Japan, France and Belgium (Economist, 2010).
By comparison, in the US the demand for McDonald’s products over the recession did not increase as in Japan, the UK and France, but more
importantly it did not decrease either – this during a time where demand in the overall US restaurant industry fell by around 6% (Economist, 2010).
These figures paint a picture of the fast food industry being relatively recession proof; however, as a Moody’s report (2009) cautions, this may not
always be the case. Consumers may choose to eat at home rather than going out in particularly severe recessions, substituting home-cooked meals for
restaurant ones, value-for-money or otherwise. They may also focus their demand on low-cost, ‘budget’ menu items with particularly low profit
margins. Indeed, during the recession Burger King saw its US profits fall by around 6% as customers increasingly turned to its dollar menu options which it
had chosen to focus on as a marketing strategy during the recession, with demand for those items increasing by as much as 20%. A number of Burger King
franchises actually sued the corporation after requiring them to promote and sell double-cheeseburgers at $1, when they cost $1.10 to make (Economist,
2010). Such poor marketing strategies undoubtedly led to Burger King’s fall in profits during the recession – in contrast, McDonald’s
continued to focus on its more expensive standard menu options, and actually increased marketing spend by 7%, as many companies cut back (Ritchie, 2010).
Sociological
While McDonald’s and the fast food industry in the US has manage to dodge most proposed regulation aimed at reducing the unhealthiness of many of
their products, they have been perhaps less successful in dodging the negative public opinion over the same issue. Fast food in general has seen its public
image decline as society in general becomes more health conscious –the preceding decades have seen a rise in many societal health-based food
initiatives, such as increased demand for unprocessed and organic foods, and a growing public awareness of obesity and heart disease and its links to
high-fat foods. In 2004 Morgan Spurlock, an American social-commentary filmmaker in the same vein as Michael Moore, created the documentary Super-Size Me
(2004), where he ate only McDonald’s for 30 days, for 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner). He did not allow himself to have any other food
during that time, and had to upgrade to a super-size meal whenever asked, which had double the amount of fries of a medium sized meal, and also came with a
42 ounce coke. After the 30 day period, he had gained 1 stone and 10.5 pounds of extra weight which represented a 13% body mass increase, had a cholesterol
level of 230 (where levels below 200 are considered healthy) and had developed cirrhosis of the liver (Spurlock, 2004). There have also been many damaging
reports made about the fast food industry in general and McDonald in particular, including a number of studies that have suggested fast food addiction
shares many of the same characteristics as drug addiction (Garber and Lustig, 2011; Volkow and Wise, 2005). A paper by Johnson and Kenny (2010) found that
high-fat food triggered many of the same dopamine receptors in rats as those triggered by cocaine or heroin, and can override standard eating responses and
lead to bout of compulsive, addictive-like eating.
In response to this, McDonald’s has phased out the super-size option for all of its US meals (the UK supersize meal option had been phased out in
2001 due to very low demand, and had not been introduced in any other countries) and began offering more healthy menu options, including fruit smoothies,
salads, milk, water and fruit (Pompper and Higgins, 2007). They have also launched a number of innovative marketing campaigns aimed at highlighting the new
range of healthy alternatives, a policy that is estimated to cost an additional $35million in marketing costs (Vizard, 2013). Such an approach appears to
have been effective, with no sales decline reported in any month over the last 10 years (Vizard, 2013).
Technological
The advent of the internet has opened up many opportunities for low-cost, high-impact marketing across a range of firms and industries. Increasingly, firms
are being judged more and more strongly on their online presence and perceived technological savvy – it can seriously harm a business’ image if
they are seen as out-of-touch with the modern technological world (Chaffey, 2009). Marketing opportunities using the internet are many and varied and can
range from intricate, involved, multi-layered viral campaigns, through website design and functionality to a simple social media presence. While the fast
food industry was slow to catch on to the benefits of internet marketing in the beginning, most firms have now embraced its potential, and McDonald’s
is at the forefront.
As well as taking the (now somewhat standard) step of establishing a strong social media presence, with the creation of both a Facebook page and twitter
account in 2009, McDonald have also run a number of successful online marketing campaigns, including an ‘Ask McDonald’s Youtube campaign in
2012, where over 20,000 questions from the public were answered, with most being based around the quality and supply chain of McDonald’s food and
burgers. Many of the questions were answered through short Youtube videos, some of which have gathered over 10 million views, and most of which were
received very positively (Macmillan, 2012).
However, as with most other firms, the internet has proved to be a double-edged sword in terms of marketing success for McDonald’s. There have also
been a number of negative articles posted on Facebook and Twitter about the company and its products, including an obvious hoax post that claimed a batch
of McDonald’s hamburgers in Oklahoma had been found to have been contaminated with ‘human meat’ (Hooton, 2014, p1). Despite the obvious
falseness of the claims (the posts were taken from a joke news site, satirising the Tesco horse meat scandal of 2013) many people online believed the
stories, claiming to be sickened by them, and declaring they would boycott McDonald products from now on (Hooton, 2014). Such false information is easily
spread online with little to no information regulation; firms can be at the mercy of false accusations and internet pranks. Also, in direct contrast to the
successful Youtube campaign was a perhaps less successful Twitter campaign, where McDonald’s promoted the #Mcdstories hashtag for twitter users to
post their stories and positive experiences with the firm. However, as there was no ability to either control or properly interact with the responses as
with the Youtube campaign, the campaign collapsed almost immediately with a glut of negative anti-McDonald’s tweets, outweighing the positive
responses by around 10 to 1 (Kolowich, 2014). Careful monitoring of the company’s online presence and quick response to such incidents will go some
way to mitigating the potential damage.
Environmental
In recent years, environmental issues have come to the forefront of public consciousness with the rise of many green initiatives and movements. In
response, many businesses now include some form of environmental damage mitigation to counteract the negative environmental aspects of their typical
business production methods; typical methods include the replanting of trees to offset carbon emissions caused by the transportation of goods, a reduction
in the amount of paper used in the administrative side of the business, energy-saving initiatives such as the turning off of lights, electrical appliances
and computers when facilities are not in use, and a reduction in the amount of packaging used in the production process (Satya, 2002).
Environmental concerns about a business’ operations are particularly pronounced in the food industry, as food production techniques are often
associated with poor environmental controls, particularly in emerging third world economy producers, and budget meat suppliers (Foster et al, 2007).
Indeed, a number of protests have been levelled at many fast food firms in general, and McDonald’s in particular – on 19th July
1985, Greenpeace in the UK declared an “anti-McD Day of Action” (Veggis, 2014, p1) which involved demonstrations, protest marches and pickets
of many McDonald’s stores across the UK. The ‘Day of Action’ has been repeated every year on the same date, and protests against
“the promotion of junk food, the unethical targeting of children, exploitation of workers, animal cruelty, damage to the environment and the global
domination of corporations over our lives” (Veggis, 2014, p3). In 1997, two of the protestors were sued by McDonald’s for libel, after
repeating some of these claims in many McDonald’s restaurant. The judge found in favour of McDonald’s for some of the allegations of
libel, but found others had some truth to them and could not be considered libellous, including claims that they “falsely advertise their
food as nutritious, risk the health of their long-term regular customers” and “are culpably responsible for cruelty to animals reared for their
products” (Justice Bell, 1997, p13).
In response to this, McDonald’s have initiated a number of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies centred on reducing the environmental
impact of the business; they currently participate in ‘Earth Hour,’ an initiative that encourages many businesses to turn off their lights and
unused equipment on a specific hour each year, to reduce their carbon footprint. They have also sought to reduce the environmental impact of their
packaging, seeking out more biodegradable packaging in many markets; they have initiated paper-reduction policies in many of their administration centres,
and they have also instigated investigations into the care and management of the animals reared for their product supply, with a view to ensuring no
unnecessary cruelty or inhumane treatment is taking place (McDonald’s, 2014c)
Legal
The specific legal environment in which McDonald’s operates is highly dependent on the specific country and market in question; however, most of the
markets that McDonald’s operates in have some form of a Health and Safety legal framework, particularly with regard to food preparation. Many, if not
all of the countries McDonald’s operates in has some form of public health inspection system with regard to food producers – in the UK, it is the
Food Standards Agency, while in the US, it is the Food and Drug Administration (Campbell et al, 2008). In both markets, any employees with food-handling
capabilities must take part in food-hygiene training at the company’s expense. McDonald’s has implemented a system that adds additional
controls to those required by either health agency, and as their customer-facing website states, “there are at least 70 safety checks on beef and
chicken every day. In fact, McDonald’s rigorous standards have been used by government agencies as models for their own regulations”
(McDonald’s, 2014d, p1). In this way, their dedication to food safety over and above that required by law can be used as a marketing tool, to
emphasise their commitment to quality (Campbell et al, 2008).
There are also a number of employment laws to consider in each market, including those regulating the maximum length of an employee’s daily and
weekly working hours, the requirements for employee breaks and facilities, tax and payroll requirements, business registration and accountancy standards
for reporting profit and loss (Jones, 2013). McDonald’s tends to adhere to the same legal standards across markets for each of these areas, even in
markets with less stringent regulations or legal requirements than those of the UK or US markets (McDonald’s, 2014a).
Conclusion
In conclusion, McDonald’s faces a number of challenges from its external environment, including the threat of further government health regulation in
the US, social concerns about the unhealthiness of their products, adverse publicity from hoaxes or failed marketing campaigns on the internet, and
additional protests regarding the environmental impact of the business.
Through understanding these challenges, McDonald’s marketing and strategy managers can use the business’ strengths, such as its commitment to
food quality and safety, its successful marketing campaigns, and the overall strengths of its brand, to turn these challenges into potential business
opportunities. In order to do so, they can use the information provided by this PESTEL analysis as the groundwork for a comprehensive SWOT analysis, to
enable the intelligent setting of future strategy for McDonalds. In this way, they can help to ensure McDonald’s remains a market leader in the fast
food industry.
References
Baines, P, Fill, C and Page, K (2011), Marketing, 2nd Ed, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Bems, R, Johnson, R and Yi, K (2010), ‘Demand Spillovers and the Collapse of Trade in the Global Recession’, IMF Economic Review,
Volume 58, Issue 1, pp295-326
Campbell M, Gardner C, Dwyer J, Isaacs S, Krueger P, and Ying J (2008), Effectiveness of public health interventions in food safety: a systematic review, University of York: Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
Chaffey, D (2009), Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice, Harlow: Pearson Education
Choe, E and Min, D (2007), ‘Chemistry of Deep-Fat Frying Oils’, Journal of Food Science, Volume 72, Issue 5, ppR77-R86
Economist (2010), The changes facing fast food: Good and hungry [Online], Available; http://www.economist.com/node/16380043 [Accessed 9th October 2014]
Food Standards Agency (2005), UK salt reduction initiatives, London: FSA
Foster, C, Green, K, Bleda, M and Dewik, P (2007), Environmental impacts of food production and consumption: final report to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Brussels: UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation
Garber, A and Rustig, R (2011), ‘Is fast food addictive?’, Current Drug Abuse Review, Volume 4, Issue 3, pp146-162
Grunert, K and Wills, J (2007), ‘A review of European research on consumer response to nutrition information on food labels’, Journal of Public Health, Volume 15, Issue 5, pp385-399
Hooton, C (2014), Those ‘human meat found in McDonald’s factory’ stories and Facebook posts are a hoax, obviously [Online], Available; http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/those-human-meat-found-in-McDonalds-factory-stories-and-facebook-posts-are-a-hoax-obviously-9784592.html [Accessed 9th October 2014]
Hurt, R, Kulisek, C, Buchanan, L and McClave, S (2010), ‘The Obesity Epidemic: Challenges, Health Initiatives, and Implications for
Gastroenterologists’, Gastroenterol Hepatol , Volume 6, Issue 12, pp780-792
Johnson, P and Kenny, P (2010), ‘Dopamine D2 receptors in addiction-like reward dysfunction and compulsive eating in obese rats’, Nature Neuroscience, Volume 13, Issue 1, pp635-641
Jones, L (2013), Introduction to Business Law, 2nd Ed, Oxford : Oxford University Press
Justice Bell (1997), Justice Bell’s Verdict: 19th June 1997 [Online], Available; http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/trial/verdict/verdict0_sum.html [Accessed
10th October 2014]
Key Note (2009), Fast-Food & Home-Delivery Outlets Market Update 2009, London: Key Note
Kliman, A (2012), The failure of capitalist production: Underlying causes of the great recession, 1st Ed, London: Pluto Press
Kolowich, L (2014), The Rules of Twitter Hashtags: Hits and Misses From 7 Big Brands [Online], Available; http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/twitter-hashtag-campaign-examples [Accessed 10th October 2014]
Macmillan, G (2012), How McDonald’s created a social media success with questions campaign [Online], Available; http://wallblog.co.uk/2012/08/20/how-McDonalds-created-a-social-media-success-with-questions-campaign/ [Accessed 8th October 2014]
McDonald’s (2014a), Corporate Info [Online], Available; http://www.McDonalds.com/us/en/our_story/Corporate_Info.html [Accessed 7th
October 2014]
McDonald’s (2014b), McDonald’s International Franchising [Online], Available; http://www.McDonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Aboutus/Franchising.html [Accessed 7th October
2014]
McDonald’s (2014c), Striving for a Sustainable Future [Online], Available; http://www.McDonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Ourworld/Environment.html [Accessed 10th
October 2014]
McDonald’s (2014d), Food Safety [Online], Available; http://www.McDonalds.ca/ca/en/food/making_informed_choices/food_safety.html [Accessed 10th October 2014]
Moody’s Investors Services (2009), Fast-Food Advantage, New York: Alacra Store
Moskowitz, D (2014), McDonald’s Brand Strength Still Dominates Its Peers’ [Online], Available; http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/03/McDonalds-brand-strength-still-dominates-its-peers.aspx [Accessed 8th October 2014]
Pompper, D and Higgins, L (2007), ‘Corporation-bashing in documentary film: A case study of news media coverage organizational response’, Public Relations Review, Volume 33, Issue 4, pp429-432
Ritchie, J (2010), How McDonald’s Thrived During the Recession [Online], Available;https://www.mint.com/blog/trends/McDonalds-recession-09212010/ [Accessed 9 th October 2014]
Satya, L (2002), ‘Environmentalism: A Global History (review)’ Journal of World History, Volume 13, Issue 2, pp525-529
Schlosser, E (2012), Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, 1st Ed, New York:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Skousen, M (2009), The Making of Modern Economics, 2nd Ed, New York: M E Sharpe
Spurlock, M (2004), Super-Size Me, Documentary, New York: The Con Production Company
Veggis (2014), What’s Still Wrong With McDonalds: Same date every year [Online], Available; http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=50 [Accessed 10th October 2014]
Vizard, S (2013), McDonald’s vows to ramp up marketing of healthy options [Online], Available; http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/McDonalds-vows-to-ramp-up-marketing-of-healthy-options/4008065.article [Accessed 9th October 2014]
Volkow, N and Wise, R (2005), ‘How can drug addiction help us understand obesity?’ Nature Neuroscience, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp555-560
Wilson, D and Roberts, J (2012), Special Report: How Washington went soft on childhood obesity [Online], Available; http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/27/us-usa-foodlobby-idUSBRE83Q0ED20120427 [Accessed 8th October 2014]
Cite This Work
To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:
