Ethical Issues Within McDonalds

Research Proposal: Ethical Issues Within McDonalds

Chastity High Bear

University of Northwestern College

May 30th, 2017

Author Note

This paper was prepared for LDR5610, Data Analysis for Decision Making, taught by Dr. Zderad.

Abstract

My research proposal will reflect on the issues that are rising within McDonalds, such as ethical, customer service, and strategic. My research proposal will reflect on the background of McDonalds, such as what they are about, who funded them, etc. My proposal will also reflect on what the objectives are within the company. It will also reflect recommendations for the company, what type of research will be used to ensure their customers are satisfied with the company, and so on.

History of McDonalds

        McDonalds was founded by Dick and Maurice McDonalds (Napoli, 2016) in 1940, which started out as a small drive-in, which was called Bar-B-Q restaurant located in San Bernardino California (Napoli, 2016). At the time, they served only hotdogs and shakes. In 1948, it led to a bigger drive-in, which the brothers operated successfully, due to this it led to a fortune the brothers never excepted to happen. Around the early 1950’s Dick and Maurice realized that hamburgers make up eighty percent of the profit (McDonalds, 2010-2017), so they decided to close their doors to reevaluate their business strategy. In 1958, hundred million hamburgers were sold at McDonalds. Then in 1959, McDonalds opened their hundredth restaurant, which as located in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin (McDonalds, 2010-2017). To help those who worked at McDonalds to succeed, Hamburger University was opened in 1961 (McDonalds, 2010-2017). Over time, McDonalds grew to be a successful company, which produced over hundreds of food items to accommodate their customers’ needs and demands.

Problem Statement

        McDonalds has underperformed in comparison to the previous year’s achievement. Their revenue had declined and prior to 2016, their sales fall for about twelve months straight (McDonalds, 2016). It is not surprising to see that McDonalds reported a loss of nearly 340 million in their first quarter of 2016 (McDonalds, 2016). The reason that McDonalds saw declining records is due to increased competition, poor management, bad marketing, and lack of responses, especially to their customers’ and franchises’ needs and demands.

        Even though McDonalds attempts to support children with life-threatening illnesses, the diet that is offered by this company and others contributes to obesity, heart disease, asthma, so many other life-threatening illnesses. What is the message that we are sending our children, especially when we promote “healthy” eating and at least 60 of the nations’ 450 children hospitals have fast-food restaurants?

        The company practices are very questionable, especially in the ways of the Environment. The “fresh” ground beef patty at a local butcher shop is a “typical fast-food hamburger patty (New, 2015), which contains meat from more than a thousand different cattle, and have been raised in at least five different countries.  The “local grown” potatoes are genetically modified (New, 2015) and not at all what McDonalds “portraits” them to be. Therefore, the practices of using food that is from extreme distances, is very problematic towards the environment. A health expert’s perspective is that the use of beef that is from multiple sources makes it contaminated and far more difficult to trace.

Research Objectives

My research objectives are to help figure out why McDonalds does not promote the things that they say is “healthy” for the environment and their customers. I am also going to figure out why McDonalds keep raising their prices, when they are supposed to be “low prices” and “cheaper” than their competitors. I noticed that the company is forever changing their prices, just last week they raised their prices on the majority of their menu, which upsets their customers.

Important/Benefits

The important benefits are to ensure that McDonalds can find better ways to market to their customers, help the environment grow healthier, and work together will their team-mates and other management staff. It is also important for the managers to demonstrate good behavior and follow through with what they expect their employees to display and/or do for the job “duties”.

Research Design

The research design will be based on qualitative and quantitate study. Both of these will help me to determine the customers in the US that eat at McDonalds often and how McDonalds advertises to their customers and beating their competition with “quality” foods.

Data Analysis

It shows that although there are numerous threats against McDonalds industry, it occupies a relatively strong position in the global marketplace. The five forces models, the strongest competitive force, which is between rival sellers in that particular industry. It also shows the strengths of McDonalds employees/management that keep itself on top of the fast-food chain. Even though, there are various weaknesses, these can be turned around by the companies’ “Plan to win”. Obviously, McDonalds is going to have to combat with new customers health expectations, however we feel that under leadership, they have a strong enough customer base to grow in the upcoming years.

Results and Deliverables

First, McDonalds should implement the economy’s and government’s responsibility. They should adjust their company’s operations, strengthen their management, stricter implications about food safety standards that ensure the customers’ health, and honestly perform their job/knowledge about duties. Overall, the most important is to let each customer, media, and relevant government agencies be involved in the supervision. This will help to ensure that customers are eating clean and healthier food. The company should also perform regulatory duties, such as implementing standards and rules for company ethics and CSR, which will strengthen the quality of food safety supervision; strengthen the food market that allows access control, improve the food market admittance requirements, crack down standardized food into the market, and even increase the frequency of quality check.