Retail Analysis Mcdonalds

Table of Contents Executive Summary3 Introduction5 Explain about the retail store6 Explain why you have chosen this retail store7 Explain about your scenario as a mystery shopper and what you did at the outlet8 Describe the retail store’s customer service with your knowledge of Pet Peeves and 14 factors of company culture. 10 Suggest some solutions to improve the retail store’s customer service14 Conclusion15 Executive Summary Acting as a â€Å"mystery shopperâ€Å" we have evaluated one of the McDonalds’ retail shops. We have chosen a McDonalds retail shop by reason of its obvious success.McDonalds has got a yearly profit of approximately 5. 5 billion USD by trading with fast-food. Our evaluation shows us there is one certain reason of its success: Constancy! Customers know what they get at McDonalds, wherever they are in the world and apparently they appreciate this constancy. Nonetheless there are some obvious Pet Peeves, which are related to the three level s of factors of a company culture. Level one describes what you obviously feel, see and hear. Level 2 is about the communication between employee and customer. Level three contains factors that are not obvious but ake us like McDonalds subconsciously, is very tough to find in our outlet. Regarding these Pet peeves and the factors of company culture we come up with three different suggestions to improve the retail store’s customer service. 1. The company can become more ecological, by producing less rubbish. Especially in order to enhance its reputation. 2. Friendlier and politer staff 3. Achieving a nicer environment in its outlets Regarding its success it seems quite unnecessary to make some changes, but in order to keep the company’s customer service competitive little changes are recommendable.Introduction McDonalds. The company is already one of the most successful companies in the world and still growing. The main product the company sells is fast-food. How is thi s possible? How can a company, that is selling fast food, be this successful? What is the secret of its success? We threw ourselves into one of its outlets and experienced the secrets and services of McDonalds. In our following assignment we will explain about our scenario as a mystery shopper, we will describe and debate the retail store’s customer service, considering the factors of company culture.Finally we will suggest some solutions to improve the retail store’s customer service and make a conclusion of our results. Explain about the retail store â€Å"McDonald's is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 33,500 local restaurants worldwide and 1,7million employees, serving nearly 68 million people in 119 countries each day. † (McDonalds) So far, McDonald's in China employs more than 1000 restaurants, the 2013 restaurant number is expected to reach 2000. The company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDona ld in San Bernardino, California. Wikipedia, 2012) McDonalds’ total profit of the year 2011 was approximately 5,5billion USD (finanzen. net). Explain why you have chosen this retail store McDonalds is one of the most popular fast-food chain companies in the world. You’ll find McDonalds in every little city, in every crowded Shopping Mall. It surely is a very famous and successful company (Llopis, 2011) And this makes it interesting. How can a company that â€Å"just† trades with fast-food be this successful? How can you achieve a yearly profit of 5,5billion USD by trading with Burgers?Apparently McDonalds has got a successful marketing and sales concept, which makes the company very interesting to write an assignment about, considering the roots of its success, debating about its ways to make me purchase again, although it obviously has got some â€Å"Pet peeves†. Explain about your scenario as a mystery shopper and what you did at the outlet It is Sunday afternoon, 4 o’clock when I enter the McDonalds restaurant. It’s not a typical dinner time; consequently the restaurant is not crowded. Nevertheless most of the many tables are covered, and there is a small line n front of the area, where you place the order. On the first view the restaurant seems very clean and you notice a strong smell of food and loud background music. As soon as I enter the outlet, i notice a various number of employees. 4 employees take the order, another 4 employees collect the order together, and approximately 3 employees are responsible of clearing up tables. Additionally there is a bunch of employees cooking and preparing the food, and a couple of employees cleaning the sanitary fittings. It is impossible to give an exact number of employees, but there is definitely a huge amount of workers.Furthermore the employees wear a uniform. The greeting is short and not remarkable friendly, the employee makes the impression that he is pushing me to or der as soon and as fast as possible. You find a big, easy watching menu board behind the back of the Seller, which makes it easy to find a suitable product. Consequently the employee won’t ask questions to find a suitable product, he or she only asks for an upgrade for bigger fries and beverages. Anyway I have to order on my own initiative. Finally I pay for my dish, without getting a student discount and find myself in another line, waiting for the food.After I have got my food I start looking for a table, which I find at the very end of the restaurant. It’s a nice place in front of a big window. Later I’ll figure out that the chairs are quite uncomfortable, but the first impression is good though. While having a suit I notice that my table is still dirty, so I have to wipe down the table by myself. Unfortunately my burger has become cold, which is an opportunity to ask an employee for an exchange. The employee surprisingly shows me a lot of understanding and e xchanges the burger immediately. The new burger is surely satisfying.There is one remarkable point I must mention. The taste of the food is exactly the same taste as all the other times I had been at McDonalds; it doesn’t matter in which country or in which city. At the same time I notice that the interior is also pretty much the same. After we finished our food we found ourselves in front of a big bunch of waste, although we have just eaten two burgers and two medium-sized fries. Finally we left, without clearing up the table. Leaving the outlet is not commented by the staff. In summary it can be said, that the restaurant: †¢ Is basically clean Has got the same interior everywhere †¢ Strong smell of food †¢ Noisy †¢ Employees wear uniforms †¢ Seats are not very comfortable Describe the retail store’s customer service with your knowledge of Pet Peeves and 14 factors of company culture. At first I’d like to mention some so called â€Å"P et Peeves†, that are obviously disturbing and noticeable as soon as you enter the McDonalds outlet: †¢ Tense and noisy environment †¢ Disturbing sounds coming from the kitchen †¢ Unfriendly/ impolite employees that seem very impatient while you are ordering After we ordered and picked up our food we noticed some further â€Å"Pet Peeves†: Left tables are not cleared up and wiped down by employees(dirty tables †¢ Cold food †¢ Uncomfortable seats †¢ One dish creates a big amount of rubbish Considering the factors of company culture in order to evaluate the performance of this particular outlet, I? d like to difference the company culture into three levels (Tobias Amely, 2009) This three level model is invented by Edgar Schein. The information below are based on the Internet page Wikipedia. org. At the first and most cursory level of Schein's model is organizational attributes that can be seen, felt and heard by the uninitiated observer â€⠀œ collectively known as artifacts.Included are the facilities, offices, furnishings, visible awards and recognition, the way that its members dress, how each person visibly interacts with each other and with organizational outsiders, and even company slogans, mission statements and other operational creeds. The next level deals with the professed culture of an organization's members – the values. Shared values are individuals’ preferences regarding certain aspects of the organization’s culture (e. g. loyalty, customer service). At this level, local and personal values are widely expressed within the organization.Basic beliefs and assumptions include individuals' impressions about the trustworthiness and supportiveness of an organization, and are often deeply ingrained within the organization’s culture. Organizational behavior at this level usually can be studied by interviewing the organization's membership and using questionnaires to gather attitudes ab out organizational membership. At the third and deepest level, the organization's tacit assumptions are found. These are the elements of culture that are unseen and not cognitively identified in everyday interactions between organizational members.Additionally, these are the elements of culture which are often taboo to discuss inside the organization. Many of these ‘unspoken rules' exist without the conscious knowledge of the membership. Those with sufficient experience to understand this deepest level of organizational culture usually become acclimatized to its attributes over time, thus reinforcing the invisibility of their existence. Surveys and casual interviews with organizational members cannot draw out these attributes—rather much more in-depth means is required to first identify then understand organizational culture at this level.Notably, culture at this level is the underlying and driving element often missed by organizational behaviorists. (Wikipedia, 2012) R elated to level one, the â€Å"obvious† level which determines what you hear, see and feel: †¢ McDonalds has got the same interior in every restaurant †¢ the staff is wearing the same uniforms †¢ it always smells in the same way †¢ you have got the same products all over the world †¢ menu board format is the same and easy to understand †¢ you can see the McDonalds â€Å"M† symbol everywhere in the outlet †¢ Loud music in the background †¢ Rather young people and kids †¢ People eat alone without feeling awkward All parts of the McDonalds â€Å"sales areas† are constant all over the world. People know what they get and they appreciate it. They consider McDonalds as a clean, trustworthy fast-food restaurant. The second level is about the communication between employee and customer. †¢ Less communication; the communication is restricted to the order process †¢ In case of a complaint about food, the employee exch anges the product instantly †¢ Not remarkable polite, no advices †¢ The leaving is not commented The third level, which contains factors that are not obvious but make us like McDonalds subconsciously, is very tough to find in our outlet.Some factors might be: †¢ The speed of taking the order and getting the food †¢ The noises which make us hurry up(we are not supposed to feel comfortable and stay for a long time †¢ constancy The secret of McDonalds’ success is clearly the constancy. Wherever you are, you’ll find the same food, the same service. Humans apparently like and need constancy as a factor of safety and subconsciously McDonalds gives us this feeling. Suggest some solutions to improve the retail store’s customer service Shortly after entering the restaurant I noticed a various amount of Pet Peeves. Consequently our suggestions are based on at the beginning ofQuestion 4 mentioned Pet Peeves. At this point we have to make clear that it is hard to improve an outlet of a company, which is one of the most successful companies in the world. As a result solutions have to be considered as a subjective suggestion. Our first suggestion is based on an environmental aspect. In times of global warming and increasing pollution it is important to provide ecological products. One part of it is avoiding a lot of rubbish. As mentioned McDonalds is producing a lot of rubbish, so one improvement might be less production of waste, which is also recommendable for the company’s reputation.Another improvement can be trainings of employees to assure polite and patient staff, because this is definitely a negative aspect of our observations. Finally we can highly recommend to get rid of all these annoying sounds coming out of the kitchen. This can lead to a more relaxing environment, which is even recommendable for a fast-food chain company. Conclusion At the beginning of our assignment, we asked the question why a company that is selling fast-food can be this successful, although they are just selling fast-food. The explanation for its success is short and easy: constancy!Wherever you are in the world, McDonalds provides you the well-known and expected food. This constancy makes us purchase subconsciously. By examining a McDonald’s outlet as a â€Å"mystery shopper† we noticed a lot of pet peeves, which mostly lead to a tense feeling. But, at this point I have to make clear that these factors are not very obvious. We got used to them and accept them by keeping on purchasing at McDonalds Nevertheless there are some points which can be improved. 1. The company can become more ecological, by producing less rubbish.Especially in order to enhance its reputation. 2. Friendlier and politer staff 3. Achieving a nicer environment in its outlets If McDonalds can achieve these goals they will most likely stay as successful as they are. Customers don’t go to McDonalds because of its customer ser vice, but McDonalds should be aware of the fact that customers also might not come because of the customer service. Consequently little changes and improvements in customer service can be useful and should be considered in the near future. Bibliography Wikipedia. (2012, 08 24). Retrieved from http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/McDonald%27s Wikipedia. (2012). Von wikipedia. org: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Organizational_culture abgerufen finanzen. net. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. finanzen. net/bilanz_guv/McDonalds Llopis, G. (2011, 12 9). Forbes. Retrieved from http://www. forbes. com/sites/glennllopis/2011/09/12/the-most-successful-companies-embrace-the-promise-of-their-culture/ McDonalds. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. aboutmcdonalds. com: http://www. aboutmcdonalds. com/mcd/our_company. html Tobias Amely, T. K. (2009). BWL fur Dummies. Weinheim: Wiley.