...coffee in her lap. This article will reveal the facts, issues, laws, and affects about this case. Many believe that our legal system is out of control. What do you think about this news story? After reading this article you will be a more informed citizen about this case and you will think twice about judging someone based on a news headline. What are the Facts? In 1992, Stella Liebeck purchased a cup of hot coffee at a McDonald’s drive through in New Mexico while sitting in the passenger seat. She proceeded to take off the lid of the coffee cup in order to add cream and sugar. She then accidentally spilled the coffee into her lap where it soaked into her sweat pants that she was wearing. This caused third degree burns that resulted in a seven day stay in the hospital along with skin grafting to repair the damage that was done (Schostok, 2000). What are the Issues? The issue that is specific to this case is whether or not McDonald’s should be liable for selling coffee that is too hot? The broader issue is, should businesses be responsible for the safety of their customers? What Law Applies? The product liability law applies in this case, specifically the “implied warranty of fitness [that is] imposed by the Uniform Commercial Code” (Morgan, n.d.). What did the Jury decide? The jury decided to award Liebeck $200,000 for compensatory damages. They also penalized McDonald’s $2,700,000 as punishment (Fleisher-Black, 2004). Did the jury make an appropriate decision...
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...SWOT Analysis | What is SWOT Analysis? | Examples of SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis was originally conceived and developed in the 1960s and its basic organising principles have remained largely unchanged in the field of strategic management since that time (Kotler et al., 2013). It is, as Ghazinoory, Abdi and Azadegan-Mehr (2011) comment, a systematic framework which helps managers to develop their business strategies by appraising the internal and external determinants of their organisation’s performance. Internal environmental factors include leadership talent, human resource capabilities, the company’s culture as well as the effectiveness of its policies and procedures. In contrast, external factors include competition, government legislation, changing trends, and social expectations (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2008). The SWOT analysis framework involves analysing the strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) of the business’s internal factors, and the opportunities (O) and threats (T) of its external factors of performance (Ghazinoory, Abdi and Azadegan-Mehr, 2011). Through this analysis, the weaknesses and strengths within a company can correspond to the opportunities and threats in the business environment so that effective strategies can be developed (Helms and Nixon, 2010). It follows from this, therefore, that an organisation can derive an effective strategy by taking advantage of its opportunities by using its strengths and neutralise its threats by minimising the impact...
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...20/02/2012 Inventor Management Review: McDonald's, a guide to the benefits of JIT Inventor Management Review Charles Atkinson on inventory management topics. Nov ember 08, 2005 McDonald's, a guide to the benefits of JIT Just-in-Time (JIT) inv entory is the big thing right now in operations. This, along with lean operations and six sigma are the buzz words being talked most about. But what ex actly is the deal with JIT operations? First of all, JIT is a form of prov iding supplies for customers, as the name suggests, just in time. For ex ample, Dell, whom I wrote about, has become famous for its JIT model which inv olv es not ev en being in possession of the raw materials needed to fulfill an order until that order is placed and y et they are still capable of filling orders in a short period of time. McDonald's is another ex ample of a JIT sy stem wherein McDonald's doesn't begin to cook (well, I should probably say reheat and assemble what may or may not be actual food) its orders until a customer has placed a specific order. What used to be the case was McDonald's would pre-cook a batch of hamburgers and let them sit under heat lamps. They would keep them for as long as possible and ev entually discard what couldn't be sold. The only way to get a fresh hamburger under the old sy stem was to make a special order. Now, due to more sophisticated burger-making technology (including a record-breaking bun toaster), McDonald's is able to make food fast enough to wait until...
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...Assignment # 1: McDonald’s Case Study June N. Lewis Dr. Waldo, Instructor Talent Management - HRM 532 Strayer University July 21, 2013 Assignment #1: McDonald’s Case Study Outline the talent management program that led to success for the company. In the fourth quarter in 2002, McDonald’s had their first profit lost and the company began to ask themselves what went wrong because they had a history of outstanding performances until then. Upon reviewing some of their key components, the organization realized that they had to revamp their Talent Management process so that it would become aligned with the company’s business objectives and policies. Talent management is defined as “a subset of human resource (HR) processes, programs, and tools designed to identify, assess, develop, and retain talent (Silzer & Dowell, 2010, p.75). The company’s first two steps in achieving success was to restructure their performance development system (PDS) throughout the organization for all of the staff positions along with coming up with a talent review process for all of the officer-level positions in the company. Next on the list was creating and implementing a sequence of enhanced development programs, such as, Leaders at McDonald’s Program (LAMP), the McDonald’s Leadership Institute, finally, the launching of the Global Leadership Development Program. When McDonald’s had originally rolled out their strategy for the performance development system (PDS) in 2001 for all of the staff...
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...Critical Thinking in the Legal Environment: Torts and Product Liability A Review of the Pearson v. Chung and Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants Lawsuits Executive Summary This paper will compare and contrast the legal and ethical factors surrounding the Liebeck v. McDonald’s and Pearson v. Chungs lawsuits all of which have been labeled frivolous. The first case is of Liebeck v. McDonald’s, Liebeck simply wanted a cup of coffee from McDonald’s. The second case of Pearson v. Chung, Pearson entrusted the care of his designer apparel to his local drycleaner. Should consumers stop trusting that companies have our best interest at heart and not their bottom line? Liebeck purchased a cup of coffee at the drive through of McDonald’s, the driver pulls to the side so she can add the sugar and cream. Maybe her mistake was putting the cup between her knees; perhaps there were no available cup holders. The cup tips over spilling the piping hot coffee all over her lap. McDonald’s is aware that the coffee they brew at over 190 degrees has burnt hundreds of consumers because they have settled more than $500,000 worth of complaints. Yet McDonald’s has refused this particular woman’s claim for her medical bills amounting to $11,000.00, forcing her to take legal action. Next, Pearson, a prominent attorney promoted to Administrative Law Judge in Washington D.C., excited about his newly acquired stature is eager to begin his job, which in turn requires him to wear a suit every day...
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...Frivolous Lawsuits: A Comparison of the McDonalds Case and the Pearson Case Michelle DeWald University of Maryland University College Introduction “When there are too many policemen, there can be no liberty. When there are too many soldiers, there can be no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there can be no justice.” - Lin Yu-Tang Chinese Writer and Inventor Suing companies in hopes of accumulating big money is popular in today’s society. However, many people get immensely creative with their claims, creating lawsuits over ludicrous motivations. Many cases endure for years or longer. Nevertheless, the costs involved in defending a claim can be exorbitant. Unfortunately, despite every precaution, we live in a society where anyone, any business can be sued for anything. Solely because a lawsuit has been filed, however, does not mean the case has merit. This paper discusses two legal cases related to frivolous lawsuits. The first lawsuit was filed against the McDonald’s Corporation by Stella Liebeck in 1994. The second lawsuit was filed against Custom Cleaners by Roy L. Pearson, an administrative judge, in 2007. Both cases are notable and played a major role in guiding small and large companies in their responsibilities to their customers, reducing the risk of litigation, and protecting their assets to avoid unnecessary liability. Both cases will be analyzed by comparing and contrasting the facts, law, and merit. In addition, this paper will examine ethical issues...
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...McDonald’s Types of business organisations Link to case study here Overview: a case study of McDonald’s and its relationship with its franchises. Learning objectives: ➢ to analyse the role of franchises and franchisor ➢ to consider the importance of franchisees to the success of McDonald’s. Introduction (30 minutes) Introduce the lesson: you will look at McDonald’s and its relationship with its franchisees. You will consider the advantages and disadvantages of having franchises. The first McDonald’s was opened in 1940 in San Bernadino, California. However, success really began when Ray Kroc became involved in the business. McDonald’s is now extremely successful with over 30,000 restaurants. In 2002 it served over 16 billion customers, to expand rapidly over 70% of McDonald’s restaurants are franchises. Explain what a franchise is ( where McDonald’s sells the rights to use its name , products and systems in return for a percentage of the franchises earnings) Student task: How does brand franchising enable an organisation like McDonald’s to grow? How does brand franchising reduce the risk for the franchisee? Why are franchisees prepared to pay McDonald’s 4.5% of their sales revenue towards national marketing costs? Why does McDonald’s provide ongoing support to franchisees? Students to suggest the benefits of being a franchisee of McDonald’s. (e.g. support, well known brand, established systems, share resources). Put these ideas on the...
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...The majority of European companies consider education as the only reliable way of promoting and determining people and companies to assume a responsible behavior in their private or business life and to be more involved in social, environmental, moral and ethics matters. The majority of European companies consider education as the only reliable way of promoting and determining people and companies to assume a responsible behavior in their private or business life and to be more involved in social, environmental, moral and ethics matters. The awareness towards altruist actions is rising up within company’s management board; they understood the need to take care of the surrounding. Practically speaking, companies are actively participating into funding or sponsoring specific social or environmental projects. They may even create their own foundation in order to take care of underprivileged communities. The awareness towards altruist actions is rising up within company’s management board; they understood the need to take care of the surrounding. Practically speaking, companies are actively participating into funding or sponsoring specific social or environmental projects. They may even create their own foundation in order to take care of underprivileged communities. Charity Charity Promotional Promotional Strategic Strategic Means aligning issues such as water, health and poverty with the core business of the company and mostly through adherence to CSR codes and...
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...Motivational Theories at McDonald's Report Executive Summary The main focus of our conducted research was to find the relationship between employees and management in respect to motivation at McDonalds. From our online study of employee behavior and management interview we found that there was a potential gap in motivation. This gap was a detachment between management and employees. Employees’ point of view was different from that of the manager, in which they often required an instrumentality – a reward or a bonus to improve an individual’s performance. Most employees didn’t take working at McDonalds as their future occupation for various reasons. Our study found that the motivation of employees of McDonalds were low due to minimum wages, poor relationship with manager, lack of input motivation, terrible job tasks, and deficient quality of overall performance. They eventually led employees to believe working at McDonalds wasn’t worth it. So, three main issues struck as a result; insufficient training supply, high responsibility with low wage increase and too high expectation from senior management. They needed to improve this gap or continue to see lack of effort from their employees. Money was the key motivation that pushed employees to work productively. In order for employees to do their job efficiently they were to be paid adequately or otherwise be held back from doing their job. So Maslow’s theory was used to analyze this aspect in which every individual had to...
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...McDonald’s Case Study Introduction In order for organizations to meet the business goals that they set forth, they must have the people capable of meeting those goals (PMI Today, 2015). Many company leaders will say that one of their top priorities is talent management (Silzer & Dowell, 2010). There is a link between an organization’s success and the efficiency of the talent management plan that the organization has in place. Talent management is the function that identifies and recruits the right people, develops a pool of people with the requisite technical, business and leadership skills, creates succession plans and effectively mobilizes people from current assignments to the next or priority opportunities. (PMI Today, 2015, p. 3) When an organization’s talent management system is no longer effectively assisting with meeting business goals, the organization must determine what changes need to be made and implement those changes. One example of an organization that found improvements were needed in their talent management program was McDonald’s. McDonald’s began looking at their talent management program after declaring their first loss in the fourth quarter of 2002. There was a clear problem when the company’s performance had dropped but the performance ratings of managers were holding at more than 90% of them being “outstanding” or “excellent”. The disparity between the performance ratings of managers and the company’s ability to fill key leadership roles when...
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...emerald-library.com/ft McDonald's: ``think global, act local'' ± the marketing mix Principal Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK Keywords Globalization, Marketing mix, Marketing management, Fast-food industry, Marketing, Franchising Abstract Focuses on the marketing mix of McDonald's. Highlights how the company combines internationalisation and globalisation elements according to various fast food markets. Using the effect of strategical and tactical models, the case illustrates the effect of McDonald's on the global environment and how they adapt to local communities. Describes future franchise plans for McDonald's. McDonald's: ``think global, act local'' 97 Claudio Vignali Introduction McDonald's background Two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald founded McDonald's in 1937. The brothers developed food processing and assembly line techniques at a tiny drive-in restaurant east of Pasadena, California. In 1954, Ray Kroc, a milk-shake mixer salesman, saw an opportunity in this market and negotiated a franchise deal giving him exclusive rights to franchise McDonald's in the USA. Mr Kroc offered a McDonald's franchise for $950 at a time when other franchising companies sold restaurant and ice-cream franchises for up to $50,000. Mr Kroc also took a service fee of 1.9 per cent of sales for himself plus a royalty of 0.5 per cent of sales went to the McDonald brothers. The McDonald's brothers sold out for $2.7 million in 1961. McDonald's first international...
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...January, 26th, 2015 Table of Contents 1.0 Company Introduction 4 2.0 Problem Statement 5 3.0 Literature Review 5 3.1 The Concept of Internationalization 5 3.12 The Entry Mode 5 3.13 The Factors That Influence Entry Mode Choice 6 4.0 Findings 7 4.1 Mode of entry 7 4.12 Autonomy in Operations 8 4.13 Conditions of Franchising. 8 4.14 Restaurant Ownership 8 4.2 Location 9 4.21 Mission as the Guiding Principle. 9 4.22 Market share 10 4.23 Pricing Strategy 10 4.3 Functional Strategies 11 4.31 Marketing Problems 11 4.32 HR Problems 11 4.33 Training 11 4.34 Adapting to Pakistani culture 12 4.35 Promotional strategies 12 4.4 Environmental Scanning 12 4.41PEST Analysis 12 5.0 Conclusion and Recommendations 14 6.0 References 16 Abstract In this age of internationalization, people are able to share any kinds of food from different parts of the world, thanks to the global business of food and beverage companies. As the leading driver of global growth in consumer food service, the fast food industry is reaching new consumers continually through improved menus, dining experience upgrades and rapid worldwide expansion. As representatives of this industry and experienced multinationals, the American fast food restaurant groups like McDonald’s. The report discusses how the strategy of globalization affects large multi nationals like McDonald’s. It later elaborates upon...
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...Development A Review of Mission Statement For Fast Food Industry Prepared for: Dr Tony Lobo Submitted: 29 March 2010 Prepared by: Wei Zhao Student ID: 6623484 Executive Summary This report is written to evaluate if the mission statement is still necessary for company's succuss and to review mission statements for five quick services restaurants which are competing in the fast food industry including: Hungry Jack’s, McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and SUBWAY chain. This report finds that a well written mission statement is able to guide the direction of the company and positively change employees’ behaviours which directly link to company profitability. Therefore is essential for successful organizations today. This report also finds that except for McDonald’s, all other four companies’ mission statements are either focusing on these companies’ growth or profitability. This report believes it might be difficult for them to cope with this changing macro-environment and plan for the future scenarios. McDonald’s is the only organisation in these five companies that mentions customer experiences and perception towards the cooperation is also it is the only one communicate effectively this to the target audiences. Table of Contents 1.Introduction 1 2.The need of Mission Statement 1 3. Hungry Jack’s 2 3.1 Company Description 2 3.2 Review of the Mission Statement 3 4. McDonald’s 5 4.1 Company Description 5 4.2 Review on mission...
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...1) If you would have been the CEO of the company, what action you would have taken after receiving the letter from Stella for the first time after two years? The case study manifests McDonald’s cold-blooded actions against the anguish of the 79-year-old plaintiff, Stella Liebeck in much publicized lawsuit, “hot coffee case”. It is the social responsibility of the company to look into the agony faced by the consumers in relation to its product, and this is where McDonalds fall short. The incident: The accident took place on 27th February, 1992, in Albuquerque, when Stella Lei beck along with her grandson ordered a McBreakfast at McDonald’s drive-thru on the way home. She was in the passenger’s seat, during her attempt to add cream and sugar in the coffee, inside stationary car, the scalding coffee spilled onto her lap. McDonald’s coffee was exceedingly hot, around 170 degree against the industry standard of 120-130 degree, within three seconds it caused third-degree burns on Stella’s groin area. She suffered numerous torments both physical and mental in the course of recuperation which took almost two years. After two years Stella sent a letter explaining the incident to McDonalds, her intent was not to claim for compensatory damage or filing a lawsuit for it, but to admonish them against the repercussions of their dangerously hot coffee posed. Her polite request to lower the coffee temperature was in the public interest. Past Action: The accident was not first of its...
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...---------------------------------------------- International Financial Management ------------------------------------------------- Session 2010-2011 ------------------------------------------------- Non-accessed Coursework A Report of McDonald’s in Terms of Internationalization 01-03-2011 To Someone who is concerned From XXXX Ref CF/AB Date 4th March 2011 REPORT OF MCDONALD’S IN TERMS OF INTERNATIONALIZATION 1.0 INTRODUCTION Multinational corporations (MNCs) are becoming more and more today. Such style of expanding the firms has obvious advantages and affected by many factors and theories as well. This passage mainly concentrates on how the MNC(s) has/have internationalised their activities and also how it/they have financed those activities. In addition, the fast-food restaurant, McDonald, will be taken as the instance. The history of the developing of McDonald and its financing style will be discussed. 2.0 FINDINGS 2.1 The background of the internationalization Since the Second World War, international...
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