Questions answered

There are 3 questions about “McDonaldization” in the “What are you doing about...” topic.

Click on a question to read our answer.

1. What political, economic, social and technological factors affect your business
Thank you for your question. It is quite difficult to give you a definitive answer to this question, as there are many external factors that could impact on our business. Clearly the most important factor is McDonald’s customers and so it would probably be fair to say that the things that affect them will ultimately affect us. So for example, we know many of our customers are currently feeling the impact of the credit crunch so we have introduced the option of our Saver menu. We know that many of them are increasingly aware of environmental issues and so we making more efforts to run our company in an environmentally friendly way, for example, by converting our transport fleet to run on bio-diesel fuel. As technology like laptops and Blackberry’s have become more common, we've responded by offering free Wi-Fi in all of our restaurants.

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2. Hi and thanx for the great site. I’m currently writing my history thesis which concerns Americanization & the term McDonalization (read George Ritzer: McDonaldization) Ritzer defines McDonaldization as a process, by which fast-food restaurants principles become dominant in several aspects of cultural society. I realize this is a strange question, but can McDonald’s agree that this has happened on a large scale the last 30yrs? Ps. this is in no way meant as critique!
Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, the Make Up Your Own Mind team is set up to answer rather more specific questions about McDonald's business day-to-day and we would feel rather nervous taking responsibility for anything you might be assessed on at university! In this case, we'd suggest that you visit a McDonald's and consider the thesis question in a 'live environment' for yourself. (Dec 2008)

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3. I'm preparing an assignment about the future of fast food restaurants among this credit crunch. What is the future of Mcdonald's? and also can you send me annual report of 2008 or 2007 of McDonald's?
Thanks for your question. So far the credit crunch does not seem to have had a significant impact on our business as we have recently recorded our 10th consecutive quarter of growth in the UK. However it’s important to point out that we see ourselves as recession resistant rather than recession proof. We know our customers will only continue to visit our restaurants as long as they know they will be able to buy good food at affordable prices, in a pleasant, modern, clean restaurant with great service. We hope that by continuing to invest in our business e.g. by training our staff and improving our restaurant facilities we'll be able to sustain this growth. As McDonald's is listed on the US stock exchange we do not produce an annual report relating to the UK market. (June 2009)

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