Teaching Note

TEACHING NOTE
McDonald’s (in 2013): How to Win Again?
Structure of the Case

The case is written from the perspective of McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson. Dated
approximately seven months after Thompson assumed office in July 2012, it highlights the
company’s recent and dramatic decline in performance amidst a weak global economy and
increasing competition on multiple fronts.

McDonald’s was started by the McDonald brothers in 1940 in San Bernardino, California.
By limiting the menu to burgers, fries, and drinks, Dick and Mac McDonald were able to
emphasize quality and streamline operations, leading to rapid growth. In partnership with
Ray Kroc, they founded the McDonald’s Corporation in 1955, with the vision of establishing
McDonald’s franchises throughout the United States. Kroc bought out the brothers’ shares in
1961 and oversaw a period of rapid expansion throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The
company had its first public offering in 1965, debuting at $22.50 per share. It opened its first
international location (Canada) in 1967. Around the same time, Kroc started to diversify
McDonald’s menu. New menu items (Egg McMuffin, Chicken McNuggets, etc.), operational
efficiency, and technological advances were the company’s main weapons throughout the
burger wars of the 1980s. Ray Kroc passed away in 1984, leaving behind a sprawling empire
of more than 7,500 restaurants worldwide.

By the 1990s, McDonald’s rapid pace of domestic expansion began to slow. The company
had varying success with further efforts to adapt its menu internationally (e.g., lamb patties
in India) and domestically (e.g., the short-lived Arch Deluxe sandwich line). When Jack
Greenberg became CEO in 1998, he quickly took corrective action, announcing a geographic
reorganization, a new food preparation system, and a series of job cuts, all while scrapping
plans for numerous store openings. Instead, he diversified the company’s portfolio by buying
different restaurant chains (e.g., Chipotle). These purchases were later divested when
McDonald’s strategy shifted yet again in the early 2000s.

The company went through three CEOs between 2003 and 2004, at which time Jim Skinner
assumed the top post and started to implement his “Plan to Win,” refocusing the company on
execution and innovation. Under the umbrella of the “i’m lovin’ it” advertising campaign,
the restaurant featured healthier and higher-quality foods such as white-meat chicken and
salads. The restaurants themselves were redesigned to promote a more modern experience
for the consumer. Don Thompson served as COO under Skinner, leading the successful
McCafé campaign and cementing his path as Skinner’s eventual successor.

1
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

The next section of the case provides an overview of the challenges McDonald’s now faces.
The slow pace of recovery from the economic recession continues to exert a negative
influence on discretionary income and consumer spending habits. People are eating out less,
and when they do, are seeking increased quality and value. As a result, a large proportion of
McDonald’s patrons order exclusively from the value menu, avoiding higher-priced options
altogether. This is further compounded by increasing health concerns, higher supply costs,
and a bevy of strong competitors.

Traditionally, McDonald’s main competition has come from other quick service restaurants
such as Wendy’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell. Each of these competitors’ stock outperformed
McDonald’s in 2012, presenting a worrying trend for the future. Subway presents a major
challenge on the health front, and recently surpassed McDonald’s in the number of total
restaurants. Meanwhile, the boundaries between quick service and other restaurant segments
have become increasingly blurred. Due to their successful combination of high quality and
reasonable prices, restaurants in the fast-casual segment (e.g., Panera Bread, Chipotle, etc.)
are experiencing steady growth. Places like Five Guys, In-n-Out Burger, and Smashburger
provide higher-quality and higher-priced burgers, attracting the premium end of the market.
On the coffee front, McDonald’s competes head-to-head with places like Dunkin Donuts and
Starbucks.

The typical American dines out five times per week, with breakfast being the least saturated
of the three daily meals. McDonald’s three main target segments are mothers, children, and
young adults. Moms view McDonald’s as a quick, easy, and affordable meal for families on
the go (and usually bring the children). However, increasing concerns over childhood obesity
have started to erode McDonald’s appeal. Young, single professionals who earn above-
average incomes are considered “heavy users” who frequent a given chain once or twice per
week, yet McDonald’s is not among their top ten preferred eating establishments. A lack of
transparency and a series of food scandals (think “pink slime”) have also negatively affected
the company’s image.

Skinner’s “Plan to Win” was based on the three pillars of “brand direction, freedom within a
framework, and measureable milestones.” The main thrust of Skinner’s plan was to shift
from acquiring expensive real estate to generating increased sales from existing restaurants.
Under Skinner, most of the “low-hanging” fruit had already been “picked”: extended store
hours, revamping existing restaurants, healthier menu options, and improvements in
operational efficiency. Don Thompson must now find other ways to reverse the company’s
troubling downward trend in profitability. His goals include optimizing the menu to keep
pace with evolving consumer preferences, improving the customer experience, and making
McDonald’s accessible to a broader market base. He is hoping that the McWrap will be the
next big “McHit.” He also recognizes the need to address some serious service and staffing
issues and reach out to new market segments. The problem is that all of these initiatives
come with a tremendous increase in complexity and cost, at a time when margins are already
tight. In order to build a coherent strategic identity and help the company to
“win again,” Thompson will have to make some difficult choices.
2
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

Suggested Questions

Analysis: Focus on External and/or Internal Environments

1. Which trends in McDonald’s external environment are likely to have the greatest
impact on the company’s ability to sustain a competitive advantage?
2. How is McDonald’s positioned vis-à-vis its major competitors?

Formulation: Focus on Business, Corporate, and/or Global Strategy

3. Which business-level strategy does McDonald’s employ? Is it effective? How so?
4. Which international strategy does McDonald’s employ? Is it effective? How so?

Implementation: Focus on Recommendations and How to Execute Them

5. How should Thompson adapt the organizational structure of McDonald’s to achieve
his strategic plan?
6. Among all the roles played by strategic leaders, which one(s) will be most important as
Thompson implements his strategic plan?

Analysis: Focus on External and/or Internal Environments

1. Which trends in McDonald’s external environment are likely to have the greatest impact
on the company’s ability to sustain a competitive advantage?

This is a case where trends in the external environment are exerting a strong influence on
industry (and therefore firm) performance. Ask the students to perform a PESTEL analysis
(Exhibit 3.1) and then identify the two or three segments of the most strategic importance.
Next, ask them to identify the specific trends and their likely impact on the industry. They
should be able to support their analysis with data.

 Economic

Though the economic recession officially ended in the second quarter of 2009, real economic
recovery has been painstakingly slow. GDP growth has averaged around 2 percent, which is
low compared to historical standards.1 Unemployment rates continue to hover around 8
percent, with another 15 percent of the population underemployed. Gas prices remain
relatively high ($3 to $4 per gallon), while real wages are stagnant.2 Median household
income has decreased by 4.4 percent (to $52,098) over the past four years.3 As a result,
consumers have less disposable income, which means they are eating out less frequently, and
are looking for increased quality and value when they do.

While this might seem to be a positive trend for a fast food restaurant at the lower end of the
cost spectrum, the reality is that McDonald’s margins are getting squeezed. Consumers who
3
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

are willing to pay a little more for quality are going to other restaurants (e.g., Panera).
Roughly 60 percent of McDonald’s patrons order exclusively from the value menu.

Rising fuel prices also increase the cost of agricultural production, which have been further
exacerbated by drought problems. The USDA declared the 2012 corn crop a disaster. Not
only is corn one of the main products used to feed both cattle and chickens, but corn oil,
meal, and other byproducts are a significant component of many grocery items. For
restaurants, this all adds up to increased supply costs, which some companies are better able
to absorb than others.

 Sociocultural

The United States is becoming increasingly health conscious. The CDC estimates that
roughly 18 percent of children aged 6 to 19 years are considered obese, which places them at
higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, bone and joint problems, sleep issues, and
poor self-esteem.4 This is causing customers to shift preferences away from beef in favor of
chicken and other lean meats and to avoid saturated fats (which are used in frying).

This trend obviously presents a problem for a restaurant whose menu primarily features beef
products and fried foods. Changing to healthier products like salads and grilled chicken
creates more complexity and higher costs, squeezing tight margins even further.

In part because of its market dominance, McDonald’s has been heavily criticized for its
contribution to the obesity crisis. The company has been the target of lawsuits and an
unflattering documentary charging that its food makes people fat. Other negative press has
come from its lack of transparency about its use of animal fats, an exposé on “pink slime,”
and a confrontation between a 9-year-old girl and CEO Thompson at a recent board meeting.

 Political/legal

Trends in this segment are consistent with and positively reinforce the sociocultural shift
toward greater health consciousness. Michelle Obama created her “Let’s Move” initiative to
focus on the problem of childhood obesity, starting in February 2010.5 In support, President
Obama signed an executive order creating a childhood obesity task force charged with
developing strategies to combat obesity across the country.

Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010. While its
primary emphasis was on health insurance, the Act also contained a stipulation that calorie
counts must be displayed on all food service menus of chains with at least 20 units, and that
restaurants must provide additional nutritional information upon request. Increased
transparency benefits restaurants that have healthier menus, but creates significant
challenges for those that do not.

2. How is McDonald’s positioned vis-à-vis its major competitors?

4
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
 Teaching Note

A sample strategic group map (see Text Exhibit 3.7) is provided next, utilizing product
quality (highly correlated with price) and menu variety as the two plot dimensions. The case
authors could not locate consolidated information on market share across all of the
represented segments of the restaurant industry, so the circle size was based on total
company revenues (as reported by Yahoo Finance).

Starbucks
14.89B

Chipotl Panera
Product Quality

e 2.29B
3.07B Wendy’s
Wendy’s
2.52B
2.52B
DD
DD
0.7B BK
BK
0.7B McDonald’s
1.28B
1.28B
27.96B

Yum! Brands
13.06B
Parent of Taco
Bell, Pizza Hut,
& KFC

Menu Variety

First, this graph clearly shows that McDonald’s is by far the largest company and has size /
economy of scale advantages that other firms do not. Starbucks and Yum! Brands (which is
comprised of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC) generate approximately one half the revenues
of McDonald’s. All other competitors are significantly smaller, generating anywhere from
$0.7B to $3.07B in revenues.

Three of the companies mentioned in the case are privately held—Five Guys, In-N-Out
Burger, and Subway—and are omitted from the graph due to a lack of financial data. Five
Guys and In-N-Out Burger have more limited but higher-quality (premium burger) products
compared to McDonald’s. Subway’s price points are comparable to McDonald’s, with
slightly less product variety (emphasis on subs) and significantly greater health appeal.

A second observation is that the competitive space is very crowded (and this is not even a
full list of competitors). While it may appear that there is “open room” in the upper end of
5
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

the quality dimension, the reality is that several companies in the mid- to high-dollar/quality
range have been omitted from the graph for the sake of clarity (e.g., Chili’s, Old Chicago,
Ruth’s Chris Steak House, etc.). Several of these restaurants would also have higher menu
variety and fall to the right of McDonald’s on the x-axis (the other apparent “opening”).

Basically, McDonald’s is surrounded by competitors on all sides. Taco Bell challenges the
lower end of the price spectrum, while Burger King (burgers) and Dunkin Donuts (coffee)
are roughly comparable in price (just much smaller). Wendy’s aims for slightly higher
quality and charges slightly higher prices. As part of the fast-casual segment, Chipotle and
Panera overlap with the higher-priced end of McDonald’s menu, making them a reasonable
alternative for their quality/value. Starbucks is clearly the premium coffee outlet.

One of the reasons the smaller competitors have been successful is that they have focused on
a particular food/drink product. McDonald’s is one of the most diversified companies on the
chart, with burgers, chicken, salads, ice cream and other desserts, yogurt, and a full specialty
beverage line. Of the companies depicted, only Panera’s (full bakery, sandwiches, soups,
salads, and specialty beverages) menu exceeds McDonald’s in terms of offerings.
McDonald’s complexity comes with definitive costs.

Consequently, McDonald’s faces extreme pricing pressure. Low-cost competitors like

Yum!’s Taco Bell threaten to absorb the “dollar menu” customers if price points go too high,
while McDonald’s must justify higher prices against the value provided by places like
Panera, Chipotle, Wendy’s, Starbucks, etc. This helps to illustrate why many analysts have
started to criticize McDonald’s for losing its strategic vision and getting “stuck-in-the-
middle” of a fierce pack of competitors.

Formulation: Focus on Business, Corporate, and Global Strategies

3. Which business-level strategy does McDonald’s employ? Is it effective? How so?

Asking students to analyze McDonald’s business-level strategy can be an informative and

enlightening exercise, as they are not likely to agree, at least initially.

Some will argue that McDonald’s is primarily a differentiator, as evidenced by:

 The fact that the company has one of the most widely recognized brands and logos in
the world.6
 Premium menu items (product features) like the McCafé line, salads, and chicken
sandwiches, many of which have “premium” as part of their name.
 Its reputation for having the best-tasting French fries (a nice complement to go with
its many sandwiches).7
 At least at one time, McDonald’s prided itself on its customer service.
 While students may quibble with this, the company prides itself on its food quality.8
6
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

 The company’s “i’m lovin’ it” campaign emphasizing that McDonald’s provides a
“fun food experience.”
 Prices are comparable to competitors (e.g., Wendy’s, Burger King).

Others will point out various low-cost elements of McDonald’s strategy, such as:

 The low price point of fast food restaurants in general (this can lead into a useful
discussion of defining industry boundaries for analysis purposes).
 McDonald’s Dollar Menu, because “an empty stomach shouldn’t mean emptying
your wallet, too.”9
 Extra-Value Meals that are a “good deal” and “one tasty bargain.”10
 The perceived low (nutritional) quality of fast food (with the assumption that this is
associated with lower input costs).
 Economies of scale achieved as the worlds’ largest fast food chain by sales.11
 Learning- and experience-curve benefits derived from being one of the oldest burger
chains.
 Corporate emphasis on supply chain management and operational efficiency.

With well-developed arguments on both sides, others will propose that McDonald’s is best
described as an integrator, offering relatively differentiated products/services at low cost.
Companies that pursue an integration strategy have to find ways to reconcile the trade-offs
between these two strategic approaches. Some possible levers they can use include:

 Quality
 Economies of scope
 Innovation
 Organizational ambidexterity (see more on this under Question #5)

Ask students how well McDonald’s accomplishes an integration strategy by managing these
levers, or whether it is more accurately described as being “stuck-in-the-middle” of both
strategies, executing neither effectively. This is precisely the question raised in a recent Wall
Street Journal article, which features the following quotes that can be used to stimulate class
:12discussion

“McDonald’s is ‘focused on trying to be all things to all people, whether it’s

catering to health-minded people with oatmeal or to Millennials with snack
wraps. They’ve gone so far afield from their core menu that they’re not really
resonating with anyone,’ says Howard Penney, managing director at Hedgeye
Risk Management, an independent investment research firm.”

“The proliferation of new menu items—from oatmeal to Egg White Delight

McMuffins to Premium Snack Wraps—has resulted in a crowded menu and
complicated assembly process that has confounded customers and slowed

7
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

service at the drive-through, where McDonald’s derives the majority of its

U.S. sales.”

“Analysts and franchisees also say the company is confusing customers with
its variety of price points.”

“‘They don’t have a clear marketing message right now,’ said Mr. Penney of
Hedgeye Risk Management.”

“Blockbuster products often require premium ingredients, which may be at

odds with McDonald’s low-cost image. Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger
costs $5.59 in Chicago. McDonald’s recently stopped selling its line of
premium Angus third-pound burgers, which cost upwards of $4.”

“‘It may be that McDonald’s doesn’t have permission from their customers’ to
offer a blockbuster new product because their customers are looking to them
for value,’ says Sanford Bernstein analyst Sara Senatore.”

4. Which international strategy does McDonald’s employ? Is it effective? How so?

The essence of this question is to what degree does McDonald’s standardize its vast global
empire versus adapting to local conditions (see Text Exhibit 10.7). Ask students to develop a
list of what is common versus what is different across McDonald’s restaurants worldwide.
Some examples follow:

Integration Local Responsiveness

 Global brand and logo (golden arches)  Promotional materials translated into
 Known for “fun food experience” local languages
 Predominantly U.S.-based top  Local hiring and training at mid- and
management team lower levels
 Managers trained at “Hamburger  Lamb patties and tofu burgers in India,
University” meat served rarer in France, etc.
 Menu (hamburgers, French fries, Coke)  Local sourcing whenever possible;
 Customer service standards investments in local infrastructure
 Global supply chain network used to  Conduct code adapted to local context
maximize economies of scale  Structured geographically
 Corporate code of employee conduct

Many students will automatically assume that a company with such a well-known global
brand must use a global strategy to achieve that level of recognition. The truth is, however,
that McDonald’s also places significant emphasis on local adaptation of its culture, menu,
8
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

and operations, which is more consistent with a transnational approach to international

strategy. See, for example, the company’s statement of strategic direction (emphasis added):

“The strength of the alignment among the Company, its franchisees and
suppliers (collectively referred to as the System) has been key to McDonald’s
success. This business model enables McDonald’s to deliver consistent,
locally-relevant restaurant experiences to customers and be an integral part of
the communities we serve. In addition, it facilitates our ability to identify,
implement and scale innovative ideas that meet customers’ changing needs
and preferences.

McDonald’s customer-focused Plan to Win provides a common framework for

our global business yet allows for local adaptation. Through the execution of
initiatives surrounding the five elements of our Plan to Win – People,
Products, Place, Price and Promotion – we have enhanced the restaurant
experience for customers worldwide and grown comparable sales and
customer visits in each of the last eight years. This Plan, combined with
financial discipline, has delivered strong results for our shareholders.”

http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/company_profile.html

While companies that utilize a multinational or multidomestic strategy can also generate a
high degree of international brand recognition, it is clear that McDonald’s places strategic
value on maintaining a certain level of consistency across its restaurants and maximizes
economies of scale whenever possible.

Several additional resources are listed next to supplement the case and students’ own
experiences in traveling abroad (which they are usually eager to share in class).

Geographic segments:
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/company_profile.html

 United States
 Europe
 Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA)
 Other countries & corporate (OCC) including Canada, Latin America, and corporate

2012 Annual Report:

http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/content/dam/AboutMcDonalds/Investors/Investor
%202013/2012%20Annual%20Report%20Final.pdf

International locations: http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/country/map.html

Who we are (includes slide presentations of restaurants and menu items around the world):

9
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcdonalds_system/who_we_are.html

International franchising information:

http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/franchising/international_franchising.html

McDonald’s Corporation news: http://news.mcdonalds.com/

Corporate leadership: http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/leadership.html

Standards of business conduct for employees:

http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/corporate_governance/codes_of_conduct/sta
ndards_of_business_conduct.html

Implementation: Focus on Recommendations and How to Implement Them

5. How should Thompson adapt the organizational structure of McDonald’s to achieve his
strategic plan?

As long as McDonald’s tries to pursue both differentiation and cost leadership as part of its
business-level strategy, it will have to find ways to reconcile the trade-offs inherent in these
two approaches. This suggests transforming McDonald’s into an ambidextrous organization
to balance exploitation (applying current knowledge to enhance firm performance in the
short term) with exploration (searching for new knowledge that may enhance a firm’s future
performance). Structurally, this implies the need to (see Text Exhibit 11.6):

 Balance centralization with decentralization

 Develop multiple core competencies along the value chain
 Invest in both product and process innovations
 Create economies of scale and scope

Ambidextrous organizations frequently make use of the following techniques to resolve

trade-offs across internal value chain activities and time (see Chapter 6):

 Flexible and lean manufacturing systems

 Total quality management
 Just-in-time inventory management
 Six Sigma
 Use of teams in the production process
 Decentralized decision making at the level of the individual customer

Thompson’s strategy involves three main initiatives: (1) optimizing the menu to keep pace
with evolving consumer preferences; (2) improving the customer experience so that people
want to come back again; and (3) making McDonald’s more accessible to a broader market
base. Ask students to analyze whether (and how) Thompson’s plan is likely to help
10
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

McDonald’s increase its ambidexterity as an organization, and thereby avoid (or escape)
staying “stuck-in-the-middle.”

6. Among all the roles played by strategic leaders, which one(s) will be most important as
Thompson implements his strategic plan?

CEOs play multiple roles (see Text Exhibit 12.7) over the course of their careers; this
question is asking students to consider what McDonald’s most needs from its CEO, Don
Thompson, at this point in its corporate development. Are his three main initiatives sufficient
to reverse the company’s lackluster performance over the past year?

None of his three initiatives indicate that a dramatic change in strategic direction is
necessary. Rather, optimizing the menu, improving customer service, and broadening the
market base will require tactical adjustments in how resources are allocated (resource
allocator). Meanwhile, Thompson will need to disseminate (disseminator) information about
the changes inside the organization, as well as serve as spokesperson to external
stakeholders. Additional Resource #3 provides an example of Thompson acting as
figurehead, granting an interview together with Howell Wechsler, CEO of Alliance for a
Healthier Generation. Most all of these tasks emphasize the informational and interpersonal
aspects of the CEO’s job.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article,13 however, several analysts indicated that they would
like to see Thompson play a more active role as entrepreneur, scanning the internal and
external environments to discover new strategic initiatives. One argument is that
McDonald’s needs a new “McHit” to drive customers into the store and increase sales
revenues. Still others feel that the biggest issue is that McDonald’s has lost its strategic
identity, and that Thompson needs to make some difficult decisions about which products to
cut from the menu and which markets to pursue (leader). More recently, McDonald’s has
been the target of strikes by workers seeking a wage increase from $7.25 to $15.00 per hour
(see Recent Updates), forcing Thompson to step in as a disturbance handler (as yet he has
refused to negotiate with the strikers as most work stoppages have been relatively brief in
duration). These activities emphasize the decisional roles played by a CEO who is seeking to
implement significant strategic changes.

11
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

Strategic Financial Analysis (SFA)

Financial analysis spreadsheets for this case can be found in Connect.

Recent Updates

 Fast food workers have staged a series of strikes to petition for a wage increase from
the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 to $15.00 per hour. McDonald’s is among
the restaurants being targeted.

 Bacon, J. (2013), “Fast-food workers strike, protest for higher pay,” USA Today,
December 5.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/12/05/fast-food-strike-
wages/3877023/

 Strauss, G. (2013), “Fast-food workers strike for higher pay,” USA Today, August 30.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/29/fast-food-workers-strike-for-
higher-pay-in-nearly-60-cities/2726815/

Additional Resources

1. Dollar Menu Dilemma.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/10/24/ym-romans-fast-food-
fights.cnn&iref=videosearch&video_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com
%2Fsearch%2F%3Fquery%3Dmcdonalds%26primaryType%3Dmixed%26sortBy
%3Drelevance%26intl%3Dfalse%26x%3D0%26y
%3D0#/video/bestoftv/2013/10/24/ym-romans-fast-food-fights.cnn (2:05). October 24,
2013. A CNN video featuring the dilemma faced by fast food restaurants and how
McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Starbucks are responding.

2. Burger King Takes on the Big Mac.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2013/11/06/lead-moss-burger-king-takes-on-
big-mac.cnn&iref=videosearch&video_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com
%2Fsearch%2F%3Fquery%3Dmcdonalds%26primaryType%3Dmixed%26sortBy
%3Drelevance%26intl%3Dfalse%26x%3D0%26y%3D0#/video/living/2013/11/06/lead-
moss-burger-king-takes-on-big-mac.cnn (2:46). November 6, 2013. A CNN video
featuring Burger King’s launch of the “Big King,” a direct attack on the Big Mac.
Comparisons are made between the current “burger wars” and the “cola wars” of the
1980s.

3. McDonald’s Goes “McHealthy.”

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/09/27/qmb-
mcdonalds.cnn&iref=videosearch&video_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com
12
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Teaching Note

%2Fsearch%2F%3Fquery%3Dmcdonalds%26primaryType%3Dmixed%26sortBy
%3Drelevance%26intl%3Dfalse%26x%3D29%26y%3D11 (4:29). September 26, 2013.
A CNN video where Richard Quest interviews McDonald’s CEO, Don Thompson, and
Howell Wechsler, CEO of Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Discussion revolves
around McDonald’s initiative to introduce healthier options in 20 major markets.

4. McDonald’s Helpline: Try Foodstamps.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/10/24/exp-costello-salgado-
mcdonalds.cnn&iref=videosearch&video_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com
%2Fsearch%2F%3Fquery%3Dmcdonalds%26primaryType%3Dmixed%26sortBy
%3Drelevance%26intl%3Dfalse%26x%3D29%26y
%3D11#/video/bestoftv/2013/10/24/exp-costello-salgado-mcdonalds.cnn (4:24). October
24, 2013. A CNN video featuring the controversy created when an employee recorded a
call to McDonald’s employee help line. When she asked for financial assistance, she was
advised on how to get help from government assistance programs.

13
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
1
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324743704578447010172328882.
2
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/16/mcdonalds-walmart-low-income-shoppers_n_3765489.html.
3
http://economy.money.cnn.com/2013/08/22/economy-income/.
4
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm.
5
http://www.letsmove.gov/about.
6
http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/top-100-list-view.aspx.
7
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-daily-meal/how-to-make-fries-that-ta_b_3791465.html.
8
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food.html.
9
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/meal_bundles/dollar_menu.html.
10
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/meal_bundles/extra_value_meals.html.
11
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304384104579139871559464960-
lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwNDEyNDQyWj.
12
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304384104579139871559464960-
lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwNDEyNDQyWj.
13
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304384104579139871559464960-
lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwNDEyNDQyWj.