GlobalMarketing Plan for McDonald’s Corporation
GlobalMarketing Plan for McDonald’s Corporation
ExecutiveSummary
McDonald`s’is one of the largest food chains in the World. The company has along history of success as a super brand in the fast food industry.It has over 34,000 restaurants across the major cities in almostevery country in the world. However, its presence has not been feltin the African continent. The McDonald`s Marketing Strategy for EastAfrica`s Economic hub would include the following major subsectionsthe product and country background, cultural and economic analysis,political and regulatory factors and analysis and marketing andfinancial projections. The marketing plan aims at providing aguideline and strategy on how to launch the new product in the Kenyanmarket (Miskelly& Selden, 2013).
Productand Country Background
Thefood chain has a significant global market share. It boasts of anexcellent reputation in developing new food menus that match theirlocal customers` tastes and preferences (Sridhar,2011). The company specializes in providing their customers with anarray of products which include hamburgers, chicken, French fries,soft drinks, milkshakes, salads, desserts, coffee, and breakfast.McDonald`s has been able to innovate and incorporate local tastes intheir menu so as to meet the needs of their customers with differentpreference in foreign markets (Paul& Roy, 2013).
Nairobiis the capital city of Kenya it has a population of more than 3million urban dwellers. The city has been going through the rapidgrowth of the real estate industry and improved infrastructure, andthe middle class keeps growing each day. These statistics provide agood analysis of a good and ready market that McDonald`s could tapinto.
Culturaland Economic Background
Manyother multinational companies have graced the region for a share ofthe growing market of vibrant Kenyan youths and middle-classpopulation. The middle class in Nairobi keeps growing each day asbusinesses are set up by expatriates and the local people, and thispromotes the growth of the purchasing power among the city dwellersthat would provide the customers for McDonald’s. The urban dwellersconsist of a higher population of Christians and a considerablenumber of Muslims and Buddhists, and this would not be an issue sinceMcDonald`s has been able to grow in both the Middle East Asianmarkets where religion is highly diversified. The infrastructure inthe city has improved tremendously due to the advancement oftechnology. Getting the right personnel for their restaurants wouldnot be a constraint since most of the population is educated.
Thegrowth rate in the GDP has been at a steady 5.3%, and this is greatprogress since the country has been recovering from the 2007post-election violence and terror attacks. However, the governmenthas assured foreign investors of their safety by implementing theright policies and regulations aimed at protecting them. A franchisein the city would enable the company to enter the race of getting themarket share that is being held by local and international foodchains such as Dominos Pizza. The target market would be middle-classpopulation by setting up restaurants in the malls already performingso well such as Garden City Mall and the new Two Rivers Mall. Thiswould ensure that the service is brought closer to the customers byincreasing their accessibility.
MarketingAnalysis, Strategies and Financial Projections
Themarket objective is to grow the restaurants and launch severaloutlets in different malls in the leafy suburbs of Nairobi whereinternational civil servants and diplomats call home. The companywould also need to adapt the different items on the menu with thedifferent tastes and preferences of the local people. Kenyans arehuge beef consumers and therefore a tasty Big Mac burger would be agreat treat for the population. The menu could adapt to usingdifferent tastes that the population prefers and therefore afeasibility market research needs to be done so as to include theright items on the menu. (Ayrapetova,2014)
Promotionaldecisions would have to be made, and this should include a socialmedia campaign. Kenyans and especially Nairobi dwellers have a greatpresence on Twitter and other social media platforms making it becomeone of the best ways to transfer news to the public. Getting thesuppliers would require proper quotations from renowned localsuppliers to ensure that the food chain is keeping abreast withdemand. McDonalds’ just like any other company that would like totake up the franchise and set up shop in Nairobi would have to do acomprehensive market research on the pricing of different menu itemsby their market competition such as Dominos and Subway(Paul& Roy, 2013).
MarketEntry and Implementation
Thenew customers of the company need to feelthe difference between the products offered by the Mac Donald’s andthose of their competitors though the value for money they get aswell as the quality of food served. The organizational structureshould ensure that professional management is outsourced so as thebest strategies are used to grow the restaurant(Thompson,Gamble, Peteraf, & Strickland, 2014). The firm would requireunlimited access to electricity since food does go bad, so thereneeds to be a great assessment of the infrastructural levelsrequired. The financial injection for such a franchise might be veryexpensive to the amount of U.S $ 1 Million (Kshs. 101 million).Therefore the marketing strategy should include sponsorships of localcommunity events, and hosting of such events so as to optimize theirpresence and create awareness of their product launch, to safeguardsales and make profits not just break even (Ayrapetova,2014).
Conclusion
Allin all, entry into a new market is not an easy task, a lot of marketresearch need to be done to ensure that the target market isidentified and the product that meets the need of the market isprovided. Multinational companies such as the MacDonald`s have thefinancial might to venture into any market.However, it is not aguarantee that they will succeed, they need to employ the appropriatemarketing strategies that would facilitate market entry, and thisinvolve hiring personnel from the host country since they have abetter understanding of the prevailing market conditions(JanFields, 2015).
References
Ayrapetova, T.(2014). Report on the Financial Evaluation: McDonald’s Corporationand Yum! Brands. CRIS – Bulletin of the Centre for Research andInterdisciplinary Study, 2014(1).doi:10.2478/cris-2014-0003
JanFields: Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer,Mcdonald`s Corporation. (2015). Creating Value Through People,23-33. doi:10.1002/9781119197027.ch2
Miskelly, M.,& Selden, H. (2013). Encyclopedia of Major MarketingStrategies. Farmington Hills: Gale, Cengage Learning.
Paul, R.,& Roy, S. K. (2013). Case Study 11: Marketing ofServices: The McDonald’s Way. Marketing Cases from EmergingMarkets, 99-112. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-36861-5_15
Sridhar, K.(2011). The differentiating factor: a strategic sustainability planfor the marketing department of a major corporation.Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 12(3), 266.doi:10.1504/ier.2011.041823
Thompson, A. A.,Gamble, J., Peteraf, M. A., & Strickland, A. J.(2014). Crafting and executing strategy: Concepts and readings.