Innovation în Mc Donalds

In this project our group investigated McDonald’s company in Denmark. We

discovered challenges that the company faces and recognized problem area we want to focus on.

We collected primary data by creating a questionnaire and posted it on Facebook groups.

Secondary data comes from articles and reports. By processing data, we have got a

general overview of McDonald’s situation in Denmark and that helped us with problem investigation. For the analysis part we used relevant models and theories with collected data. In the end of our project we will give recommendations and summarize information collected during whole project writing process.

Part 1: Introduction

1.1 History

McDonald’s’ history starts in 1940 when two brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened McDonald’s bar BBQ restaurant in San Bernardino, California. Their menu had nine items, and their hit was the 15 cent hamburger. In 1954 Ray Kroc came to sell multi mixers to McDonald brothers and was stunned by the effectiveness of their operation. They produced a limited menu which allowed them to focus on quality and quick service.

Kroc pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s restaurants all over the U.S. to the brothers. In 1955 he founded McDonald’s System Inc., a predecessor of the McDonald’s Corporation and six years later bought the exclusive rights to the McDonald’s name. By 1958, McDonald’s had sold its 100 millionth hamburgers. Until 2015 it has 33000 restaurants worldwide. First McDonald’s in Denmark was opened on April 15, 1981 on Vesterbrogade in Copenhagen.

1.2 Project goals:

McDonald’s is one of the biggest restaurants worldwide and is present on every continent, but in our project we will focus on McDonald’s in Denmark. With a help of theories and models we will analyze the company's situation on market and investigate challenges that company faces.

We will start by taking a look at their current situation, present our innovating ideas and finish by creating the image of the new McDonald’s concept. We will look into the Product, Process and Position innovation that are part of the 4 P’s of innovation and come with solutions in order to bring more value to the customer by improving these important parts of the business. The innovative ideas we will present are related to real struggles that McDonald’s is facing in Denmark and by choosing to focus on these three P’s of innovation, we want to show the areas in which they lack new developments for a better evolution of the business.

Part 2: Problem Formulation

2.1 Problem Area

As one of the most well known brands of fast food, McDonald’s has successfully managed to be present in every country and on every continent. Going globally is a challenge for every large company, considering the cultural differences. Even though popular amongst people of all ages, McDonald’s has been facing obstacles in its way to the top. From different complaints to bad publicity, the company has tried to maintain a positive perspective for the future. These problems have also been amplified by tough competition and lack of innovation that can bring value to the customers.

McDonald’s in Denmark is a very good example of a company willing to make major changes in order to adapt to the customers’ wishes and preferences. Ever since the company entered the Danish market, it has made changes in the menu in order to attract customers. But this has been proven not to be the only problem. Poor quality service, the image of unhealthy food and hard process of adaptation to the market have turned McDonald’s into a striver for innovation that can improve the image of the brand.

From the research we conducted we have been able to discover the willingness of the customers to support the changes in McDonald’s Denmark and the opportunities the company has when it comes to innovation.

2.2 Problem Formulation

McDonald’s is a well known brand in Denmark. The challenge is that McDonald’s Denmark is not on the forefront as it is the case in other countries. They are lagging quite a bit if we compare to the McDonald’s in other markets. We want to focus on the Danish market and how we can take it a step further by using innovation. How can McDonald’s Denmark become a frontrunner when it comes to product and service innovation?

Part 3: Methodology

In this chapter we will describe the steps we took in order to gain knowledge of general values of the company and particularly of Denmark. We will also present the collecting data process and methods used to understand the customers’ beliefs and the changes that can be made in order to be more successful.