Index:

|Sr. No. |Topics |Page No.s |
| |CRM and CRM in Service Industry |02 |
|McDonald’s: |
| |Introduction |03 |
| |Mcdonald’s in India |04 |
| |Values and Principles |05 |
| |History |06 |
| |Products |09 |
| |Background – The McDonald’s Story |11 |
| |Organizational structures |13 |
| |CRM Strategies used by McDonald’s |13 |
| |Recommendations |19 |
| |Conclusion |20 |
| |Awards |21 |

Customer Relationship Management: • CRM is the abbreviation of Customer Relationship Management. In the present world, CRM has become a milestone in businesses strategies. • It assists in building new business strategies which will not only improve relation with the customer and but also to enhance the prospects of overall business. • It entails all the various aspects of the interaction and relationship of a particular company or organization with its customers. • Today, CRM has become equally important to small, large, and medium business organizations. • Companies setup customer care department where if customer calls then customer can get support to know about products. • CRM is required in today’s information driven knowledge economy. Companies can bring more buyers through satisfied customers. • If customer uses your company’s products and services and if he/she gets instant help from the company then he can encourage some more peoples to use your products and services. • One satisfied customer can bring 100 more customers so that your customer care department also became your marketing department.

CRM in Service Industry: • The term CRM is commonly used in the hospitality and customer service industry. • CRM in the industry terms means the methodologies and software that usually help the company to mange its customer relationships in a more organized way. • With the advent of the Internet and the development of computer technology, customer relations have undergone a drastic change. • Many software companies have developed software dealing specifically with the proper management of customer relations. This CRM software is referred to as CRM solutions as it provides a solution for the complex task of maintaining and retrieving customer information. • Through CRM software every customer care executive can access customer’s products and services information. If customer calls for support that time customer care executive can update problems and provided support details which can helpful to provide support if customer calls again in future. • CRM enables companies and organizations to build more profitable customer relationships and reduce operation spending. • Sales, marketing personnel will have more customer information to work on. The business is able to know what customers want so that they can maximize their revenue by advertising the right products to the right people. • CRM also enable business to monitor all the contacts between customers and companies.

← Let us study the role played by CRM in McDonald’s, one of the largest food chain companies in the world.

Introduction: • McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily. • McDonald's first restaurant opened on 15th April 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois, U.S.A. Almost 50 years down the line, we are the world's largest food service system with more than 30,000 restaurants in 100 countries. • McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, French fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes and desserts. • More recently, it has begun to offer salads, wraps and fruit. Many McDonald's restaurants have included a playground for children and advertising geared toward children, and some have been redesigned in a more 'natural' style, with a particular emphasis on comfort: introducing lounge areas and fireplaces, and eliminating hard plastic chairs and tables. • The company has also expanded the McDonald's menu in recent decades to include alternative meal options, such as salads and snack wraps, in order to capitalize on growing consumer interest in health and wellness. Each McDonald's restaurant is operated by a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. • The corporations' revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's revenues grew 27% over the three years ending in 2007 to $22.8 billion, and 9% growth in operating income to $3.9 billion

McDonald’s in India: • McDonald's opened its doors in India in October 1996. Ever since then, McDonald's family restaurants in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Noida Faridabad, Doraha, Manesar and Gurgaon have proceeded to demonstrate, much to the delight of all our customers, what the McDonald's experience is all about. • McDonald’s in India is a 50-50 joint venture partnership between McDonald’s Corporation [USA] and two Indian businessmen. • Amit Jatia’s company Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. owns and operates McDonald's restaurants in Western India. While Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. Ltd headed by Vikram Bakshi owns and operates the Northern operations. Amit Jatia and Vikram Bakshi are like-minded visionaries who share McDonald's complete commitment to Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSC&V). • Having signed their joint-venture agreements with McDonald's in April 1995, they trained extensively, along with their Indian management team, in McDonald's restaurants in Indonesia and the U.S.A. before opening the first McDonald’s restaurant in India. • McDonald's India has developed a special menu with vegetarian selections to suit Indian tastes and preferences.
Values and Principles of McDonald’s: ← Our vision to be India's "best" quick service restaurant experience is supported by a set of core values and guiding principles. ← The core values we live by …

• We are dedicated to providing customers unparalleled levels of Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. It is what our founder, Ray Kroc, taught us. • We are committed to our people because we know that a diverse team of well-trained individuals, working together, is the key to our continued success. • We approach all aspects of our business with honesty and integrity. • We will always give back to the communities in which we do business. • We give back to the system that provides our success. • We celebrate our achievements, yet we always strive to achieve new heights.

← The principles that guide us …

• We are committed to exceeding our customers' expectations in every restaurant every time. • We believe our success is dependent upon our three-legged stool - Corporate, Franchisee Partners, and Supplier Partners. • We have a passion and a responsibility for enhancing and protecting the McDonald's brand. • We believe in a collaborative management approach, employing a mutually respectful business philosophy. • We are committed to franchising, maintaining a highly collaborative relationship with our franchisees and making franchising decisions based on what's best for our customers. • We will seize every opportunity to innovate and lead the industry on behalf of our customers.
History of McDonald's • McDonald's has come a long way ever since it’s beginning in 1955. Here are a few milestones of the McDonald's journey

➢ 1955
Ray Kroc opens his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois and the McDonald's Corporation is created.

➢ 1957
Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSC& V) becomes the company motto.

➢ 1959 The 100th McDonald's opens in Chicago.

➢ 1961
Hamburger University opens in Elk Grove, near Chicago.

➢ 1963
One billion hamburgers sold. Ronald McDonald makes his debut.

➢ 1964
Filet-O-Fish sandwich is introduced.

➢ 1965
McDonald's Corporation goes public.

➢ 1967
The first restaurants outside of the USA open in Canada and Puerto Rico.

➢ 1968
The Big Mac is introduced. The 1,000th restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois.

➢ 1972
A new McDonald's restaurant opens every day. The Quarter Pounder is introduced. ➢ 1973
Egg McMuffin is introduced.

➢ 1974
The first Ronald McDonald House opens in Philadelphia. The Happy Meal is launched.

➢ 1983
Chicken McNuggets is introduced. New Hamburger University campus opens in Oak Brook, Illinois. Set in 80 wooded acres. Training is provided for every level of McDonald's management worldwide.

➢ 1984
50 billionth hamburger sold. Ronald McDonald Children's Charities is founded in Ray Kroc’s memory to raise funds in support of child welfare.

➢ 1989
McDonald's is listed on the Frankfurt, Munich, Paris and Tokyo stock exchanges.

➢ 1990
McDonald's opens in Pushkin Square and Gorky Street, Moscow.

➢ 1993
The first McDonald's at sea opens aboard the Silja Europa, the world's largest ferry sailing between Stockholm and Helsinki.

➢ 1994
Restaurants open in Bahrain, Bulgaria, Egypt, Kuwait, Latvia, Oman, New Caledonia, Trinidad and United Arab Emirates, bringing the total to over 15,000 in 79 countries on 6 continents. ➢ 1996
McDonald's opens in India – the 95th country. The first McDonald's restaurant opened on Oct. 13, at Basant Lok, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi.
It was also the first McDonald's restaurant in the world not serving beef on its menu.

➢ 1997
The first Drive - Thru restaurant at Noida (UP). The first disabled friendly store at Noida (UP)

➢ 1999
The first restaurant at the Delhi Metro Station at Inter State Bus Terminus. The first annual fundraiser in association with ORBIS and Dr. Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital (Delhi).

➢ 2003
The first Dessert Kiosk - Faridabad (Haryana).

➢ 2003-04
Indigenous products like McAloo Tikki, McVeggie and Pizza McPuff exported to Middle East countries.

➢ 2004
McDonald's Delivery Service (McDeliveryTM ) introduced in New Delhi.

➢ 2006
McDelivery on Bicycles flagged off at Chandni Chowk (Delhi)- another first initiative by McDonald's India. 100th McDonald's Restaurant in India & 10 Years Anniversary.

➢ 2007
The first Restaurant opened in the Eastern Region at Park Street, Kolkata (West Bengal). The first Restaurant opened at Airport.(Domestic Airport, New Delhi)

Products:

1. Menu in McDonald’s located in India: 1. Veg 2. Non-Veg 3. Add-ons 4. Beverages 5. Frozen Desserts 6. Meals

1. Veg: • McVeggie • McAloo Tikki • Paneer Salsa Wrap • Crispy Chinese • Veg McCurry Pan • Pizza McPuff

❖ We are committed to giving you wholesome, healthy, and delicious food. ❖ We ensure that the cooking area as well as cooking equipment for vegetarian products is visibly segregated from the non-veg sections. ❖ What's more - our crew members cooking vegetarian food items are identifiable by their green aprons.

2. Non-Veg: • Chicken Maharaja Mac • McChicken • Filet-O-Fish • Chicken Mexican Wrap • Chicken McGrill • Chicken McCurry Pan

❖ We are proud of the food we serve and we take very seriously the responsibility we have to our customers to deliver hot, safe, freshly prepared and tasty food - every time. ❖ We do not offer any beef or pork items in India. Only the freshest chicken and fish products find their way into our Indian restaurants.

3. Add-ons: o Fries – • McDonald's world famous French Fries are produced only from the best quality potatoes. • These potatoes are cut, blanched and processed on state of the art processing lines to ensure maximum retention of nutrients. • These fries are cooked at the plant and our restaurants in 100 % vegetable cooking oil. • The only thing we add to our fries is salt. Fries are available in Small, Medium and Large Size.

o Potato Wedges – • Our new Potato Wedges are produced only from the best quality potatoes. • These potatoes are cut, blanched and processed on state of the art processing lines to ensure maximum retention of nutrients. • They are cooked at plant and our restaurants in 100 % vegetable cooking oil.

4. Beverages • Cold Coffee • Ice Tea • Soft Drinks - Coca Cola, Fanta & Sprite • McShakes – Chocolate & Strawberry (S/M/L) • Hot Serves - Cappucino, Café Mocha, Plain Tea, Cardamom Tea, Hot Chocolate

5. Frozen Desserts • Soft serve cone • Mcswirl • Soft serves - Soft Serve with Hot Fudge (Small & Medium) & Soft Serve with Strawberry (Small & Medium) • Flavour Burst • Floats

❖ At McDonald’s we continually review and improve our menu offerings to make sure that not only do we meet our customers’ expectations, but we also exceed them. ❖ As a result, we have introduced a series of ongoing value options to suit our customers different needs.

6. Meals • Value Meal - Value Meals consist of a burger, fries and a drink and are available in 3 sizes (Small, Medium and Large). • Happy Meal - A Happy Meal consists of a burger + small drink + toy. You can also substitute the small drink in the Happy Meal™ with a small McShake by paying the difference. • Family Value Meal - A value for money combination for the entire family. Choose a Happy Meal McAloo Tikki or Chicken McGrill + Regular Coke + Toy + Get 2 Small Fries + Add 2 Regular Coke.

Background - The McDonald's Story: • The McDonald's story began in 1940 when Dick and Mac McDonald opened a highly successful car-hop, barbecue restaurant in San Bernardino, Calif. • Initially, they owned a hotdog stand, but after establishing the restaurant they served around 25 items, which were mostly barbequed. It became a popular and profitable teen hangout. • In post-war 1948, being aware that growing families were more and more concerned about value, and with a growing roadway system making customers more interested in speed of service, they temporarily closed their restaurant, built a simplified menu around their best-liked products, designed a more efficient interior and re-opened with self-service at the former car hop windows to sell only hamburgers, milkshakes and French fries. • Thus, they invented the self-service, drive-in concept that was a limited-menu, paper-service, hand-out operation, featuring 15-cent hamburgers, 19-cent cheeseburgers, 20-cent malts and 10-cent French fries. • After a slow start, business boomed. In 1952, American Restaurant Magazine ran a cover story on the phenomenal success of the brother's new concept. • The McDonald brothers proceeded to franchise (an authorization granted by a government or company to an individual or group enabling them to carry out specified commercial activities) and open, in the West, eight of the new concept drive-ins they had originated. • They were pioneering an industry. Two years later, a food service equipment salesman named Ray A. Kroc came into the picture. • He owned the national marketing rights to the five-spindle Multimixers, the brothers used to make their milkshakes, and the brothers had purchased ten of the machines to keep up with their soaring business. • In 1955, Ray was granted exclusive rights by the brothers to develop and franchise McDonald's drive-ins for the United States. Ray formed McDonald's System, Inc. in 1955. • Ray opened the 9th McDonald's, his first, in Des Plaines, IL, in April 1955. In 1961, Ray bought from the McDonald's brothers the proprietary rights to the McDonald's system, including all rights to the rest of the world. • The organization that Ray founded -- today's McDonald's Corporation -- proceeded to add more than 23,000 McDonald's restaurants and 4,500 franchisees across more than 111 countries around the world. • Thus, the McDonald brothers originated the McDonald's self-service drive-in concept and pioneered an industry. • Ray Kroc formed a company that, through the dedication of countless franchisees, company people and suppliers, has grown into the most successful food service organization in the world. • In 2003, the company launched the ‘I’m lovin’ it’ campaign. In 2005, McDonald’s started its McDelivery service in Singapore. • In 2006, the chain announced that it will publish nutritional information on its packaging of all its products, for the benefit of the customers. • Considering the huge success and brand McDonald’s has become, the food chain is spread across the world in almost all the major cities of the globe. • Hence being economic and user friendly, the success rate of the company cannot be doubted.

Organizational Structure: • McDonald's are structured along functional lines. Their Chief Executive oversees five major areas of activity:

1. Operations (equipment and franchising)
2. Development (property and construction)
3. Finance (supply chain and new product development)
4. Marketing (sales & marketing)
5. Human Resources (customer services, personnel, hygiene and safety)

CRM Strategies used by McDonald's: • Organizations do not exist in vacuum. They operate within a competitive industrial environment. Analyzing its competitors not only enables an organization to identify its own strengths and weaknesses but also help to identify opportunities for and threats to the organization from its industrial environment. • SWOT analysis is a systematic analysis of these factors and the strategy that reflects the best match between them. • Let us analyze these principals in relation to the core competence of McDonalds, one of the largest food chain companies in the world. • Let us first start with the strengths and the positive aspects which define the performance of this company. How can we define the company’s strengths? Strength is a distinctive competence that gives the firm a comparative advantage in the market place. For instance financial resources, image, market leadership and buyer supplier relations etc • McDonalds is the no: 1 fast food chain stores with a 40 million customers visiting it per day. It has over 30,000 branches in 120 countries. It derives 80% of its revenues from eight countries like Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Japan, UK, Australia and US. • The greatest strength was creating an image in the minds of the people and introducing them to the fast food culture. Delivery speed, customer care and cleanliness are the core strengths on which these stores expanded. • They created a corporate symbol and their advertisement campaigns were highly successful in establishing the brand image and logo in the minds of the millions. Two main competitors generally identified with McDonalds are the Burger King and the KFC. • McDonalds marketing strategy is concerned with the internal resources, external environment and its basic competencies along with its share holders. • McDonald’s product value is also its greatest strengths. Customers know what to expect when they walk into a McDonalds store. It gives great emphasis to human resources by satisfying both the customer and the employees. • Next is the innovation aspect wherein new products line up to catch up with the new trends and tastes of the people. Its diversity into other new business ventures can also be considered as its strengths. • How effective are these strengths to the company in the long run? McDonalds today is not that amendable as it was during its inception. • What are the driving factors which results in its present decline in terms of sales and services? To analyze this factor we have to look at the weaknesses part of the companies business and marketing strategy. • What can generally be termed as a weakness of a company? The same factors which were considered as strengths also become a weakness if it impedes the overall performance of the company. • Customer trends change and so does their choices. People are generally tired of the same brands that they had been using over the years, so when they do not see the expected innovation they migrate to new brands. • Moreover people see McDonalds every where and this over exposure might also be a reason for abstinence. • Moreover maintaining the standards of such a huge chain becomes feasible and when there is lack of quality service in one store it effects the whole brand. • The secret of any marketing strategy is to reach the target audience. And here again the target audience should be chosen carefully. • In the case of McDonalds as projected in its ads, the targeted audiences were the kids. Demographics and customer financial and psychological aspects define a business concerns success. • Health conscious women and senior citizen comprise the major population but kids soon grow out to become adults. Recent law suits and documentaries resulted in the companies recent innovation and a major change related to health related product ranges and this switch over as per the needs of today’s trend and needs has increased the lost popularity of McDonalds a bit. • All the above factors point out the external strengths and weaknesses. There are also internal factors which affect the performance and overall benefits the company stands to enjoy. • Kids based marketing strategy which was earlier a weakness has changed since 2003. Now more teenagers and adults rule the McDonalds ad world. • The research and development which lacked earlier is also looked into and the brand quality is being defined with various research and development options today. • McDonald at one stage started concentrating on expansion and growing big that it missed out on key factors like Quality maintenance and Research & Development. • One major threat to any brand is its relationship between the management and the franchise dealers. Organization strength is the back bone of any concern and when that starts shaking the whole system will collapse. • But slowing McDonald is recovering from all these weaknesses as its brand managers can easily communicate, compare and improve their services through the latest technological developments wherein they can use the internet to motivate, compare and improve upon other centers performances. • The overall analysis of all the external and internal strengths and weaknesses on this company should be linked in order to draft a sustainable plan for the companies’ further improvement. • For any improvement or expansion the internal resources must be readily available. And thus analyzing this aspect can lead to a modified strategy to suit its vision. • Keeping in mind the available resources the planner should think globally. Hence making use of all the core competencies the firm can definitely sustain in the competitive market. • The change in the top managerial level has creating a new wave in its performance and major changes have been implemented to retain and sustain the brand quality and innovation. As the new CEO rightly quotes, “The world has changed. Our customers have changed. We have to change too." James R. Cantaloupe, Chairman and CEO, McDonald's, 2003 • Now let us analyze the Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) of the company. What is sustainable competitive advantage? How can it be related to McDonalds? SCA is the advantage a company has which is difficult or impossible for other companies to possess or break through. • It can either be the brand, dynamic customer care, cost structure or its patent. Whatever the advantage in order to be considered as sustainable it should either be proprietary or distinctive. Other than this three different aspects that help in SCA are o The managerial and organizational process should share a good integration and coordination. The much needed ‘value’ is created thereby as everyone strives to work for a common goal. o The organization should learn and bring about changes according to the need of the hour and should always be flexible to changes in the environment such as customer trends, legal or government restriction and developments in the technology. o McDonald’s is presently concentrating on this advantage by concentrating on organizational behavior and managerial expertise. Previously this advantage was ignored as the organization was more into expansion of its outlets over the globe than strengthening its core advantage. o As the result the revenue did not see much of a change while newer outlets were open. The company suffered a massive loss first time since their inceptions which further lead to the change in the managerial heads. ▪ Technological, structural and financial assets of a company are excellent market position which helps in the SCA. ▪ McDonalds no doubt is abundant with such aspects like structure, technology and finance. To identify and implement these assets in the proper direction towards the improvement of the company is all that is needed. After 2003 the company has really started to concentrate on its greatest advantages. ➢ Most of all the greatest advantage is the vision or the dream with which the company was started. Sustaining this dream over the years is any companies’ greatest advantage. ➢ A brand usually revolves around this vision sustaining this vision and working in lieu with it is a great SCA. McDonalds was started out to help people who had very little time to cook or was too busy to get into a proper restaurant. ➢ The vision was to provide quick service, cheap products and quality satisfaction. Keeping this vision in mind the company which slackened a bit because of incompetent franchise holders is being weeded and new and better people are put in this place as the torch bearers of the company sustaining and living the vision. • To sum it all up SCA means implementing the best value based strategy using all the advantages which are unique to the company and that which cannot be copied or replicated by other competitors. • The importance of this SCA can be evident by the reply the great investment guru Warren Buffet gave when asked about how he evaluates his investment portfolio. He simply answered ‘sustainable competitive advantage’. • Hence based on the dynamic integrated and intelligent human resources can always be the only dependable and sustainable SCA. • Outsourcing boom or doom in today’s business environment. Today everything is outsourced from employee appointment to finance and customer care. No organization is best enough to handle all kinds of work. • Moreover concentrating on every detail is not possible with a big concern especially like McDonald’s. But great care should be taken not to outsource the core competences of the company. • General advantages of outsourcing are cheap service, knowledge of markets offshore, flexible resources, speedy operations, expansion in supplier relationship etc. most of all the company can concentrate on its core competencies and outsource rest of its operation. • Recently McDonald’s has tested its drive through order facility. Wherein it makes sure that the order placed with the outlet is accurate. • The order taken by the outsourced company is reverted back to the home restaurant. These call center has a digital camera which clicks the vehicle you drive through and the delivery man back home can integrate the order and the person who placed it using the image of the car. • Outsourcing thus helps in the increase of the external suppliers and fills up the difficulties faced because of the lack of the latest technologies and other innovations. • What started of as a success story with McDonalds had to face a number of risks, competitions and major set backs. What makes it still strong and ranked among the top business concerns is its core competences and the sustainable competitive advantages both internal and external. • Of course keeping up with the changing times the company has also set foot in outsourcing but the point to keep in mind here is not to be driven away by this outsourcing mania. • This company has started to revert back to its golden glory recently because of large scale revamping of its organizational and structural changes being implemented.

Recommendations: • No particular competitive strategy is guaranteed to achieve success at all times. Risk attitudes can change and vary by industry volatility and environmental uncertainty and several internal conditions also might be involved. • Thus the “four P’s” of marketing (product, price, place and promotion) provide a good starting point for consideration of the requirements of strategy implementation in the marketing function. • The mix of these marketing elements should be appropriate and the plans for each of the elements should also be appropriate. • Promotion is more than advertising. The location, size and nature of markets which the business strategy defines will guide promotion mix decisions and should indicate the content of promotional material as well. • Pricing is a complex issue because it is related to cost, volume, trade offs etc and because it is frequently used as a competitive weapon. Pricing policy changes are likely to provoke competitor response. But a reasonable price is what a customer mainly looks for.

Conclusion: • The marketing function of McDonald’s is consumer oriented and hence marketing decisions are based on the careful identification of consumer needs and on the design of marketing strategies to meet those needs. • The distribution system brings the product or service to the place where in can best fill customer needs. Access to distribution can mean all the differences between success and failure for a new product. • Because many products require support from distribution channels in the form of prompt service, rapid order processing etc the choice of distributors, wholesalers and jobbers is extremely important. • Marketing has received increasingly greater attention in the competitive business since the early modern era. The old concept of marketing focused on the firms existing products and considered marketing to consist of selling and promotion to maximize sales at a profit. • The new concept however focuses on the firms existing potential customers and seeks to earn profit through customer satisfaction with an integrated marketing program and this is what McDonald’s is best at. • Customer service is as important today as it was back then and it will always be the most essential part of any corporation or small business. If you cut corners on your customer service you will pay for it ten-fold. • Customer service means increased sales and increased sales mean successful businesses. Customer service is the key to the health of your company and the wealth that it generates.

Awards received by McDonald’s:

➢ For its unparalleled benchmarks, McDonald’s in India has been bestowed with many prestigious awards. To name a few:

← Most Respected Company' for four consecutive years, 2003-2007 in the Food Services sector, by Businessworld

← Most Wanted Brand of the Year' Award 2003 & 2004 by Franchising Holdings India Ltd

← Retailer of the Year' Award for catering services, 2004-2006 at the Images Retail Awards.

← The 'Most Preferred Fast Food Outlet' 2006 & 2007 by Awaaz Consumer Award, hosted by CNBC.

← Star Retailer - The Consumer Way, Food Services Retailer' of the Year 2006 & 2007, by Franchise India

← Amity Corporate Excellence Award'-in 2007 & 2008

Websites visited:

Websites:

• www.mcdonalds.com • www.mcdonaldsindia.com • www.ezinearticles.com • www.economictimes.indiatimes.com • www.wikipedia.com • www.google.com

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➢ Thank you for showing interest and reading it.