Case Analysis Project, McDonald’s Corp,

Introduction
McDonald’s Corporation franchises and operates McDonald's restaurants in the United States, Europe, the Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Canada, and Latin America. The company was founded by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald when they opened their first restaurant in San Bernadino California in 1948. At the time, McDonald’s core business was inexpensive and fast food, burgers, fries and shakes.
The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by businessman Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 15, 1955, the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and led its worldwide expansion, and the company became listed on the public stock markets in 1965.
Today McDonald’s has grown to become is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving more than 70 million customers daily in 119 countries across the globe.
As of December 31, 2013, the company operated 35,429 restaurants, including 28,691 franchised and 6,738 company-operated restaurants. It ranks 111 in Fortunes top 500 companies, with revenues of usd$28.1B at the end of calendar year 2013.
Problem Statement
McDonald’s problems started in the 1990s as a result of rapid global expansion at the expense of service, cleanness, and quality. Solving for cleaning up stores and improving service were short term fixes. CEO Skinner realized that longer term problem lurked in the horizon and these needed to be addressed quickly if McDonalds were to survive, and grow in the market place.
McDonald’s problems can be categorized in several areas; this could help the organization focus on addressing them;
1- Fragmenting markets and customer taste. With the expanding options and availability of once exotic foods, like Sushi and