A

RESEARCH
PROJECT REPORT
ON

McDonalds
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Mr.T.S.M.Rao

SUBMITTED BY

MOHD SADAF AHMED

BM-NOV09

PGM09111059

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank my supervisors, my colleagues and all the

respondents who participated in the survey conducted by me
for the valuable advice and support they have given to me in
the writing of this report. I would also like to thank my teacher,
Mrs.Rama Gautam and for her encouragement and guidance.
Thanks also to Mr.Imran Madki, Outlet Manager-McDonalds
,Hinjewadi for assisting me in making my survey a success.

SUMMARY

This study was to identify the key weaknesses of the McDonalds that
is leading to the loss of its business and giving an edge to its
competitors. Emphasis was also laid down upon providing necessary
suggestions to McDonalds on how can it cope up with the growing
competition eating away its market share.The investigation was done
by getting the feedback from the daily customers of the Mcdonalds
outlet located in the Hinjewadi area ,PUNE in the form of
Questionares .Each questionare consisted of a set of 10 questions that
were focussed mainly on the changes in the popularity of McDonalds
in relation to other Fast food outlets like KFC, SUBWAY, PIZZA
HUT and DOMINOS.
Data Collection was done on 4th of July,2010.
The main findings were that maximum competition posed to
McDonalds outlet in Hinjewadi area of Pune was by the Dominos.
Some key weaknesses of McDonalds were also identified in this
survey which were as follows:
Long Queues
Congestion
Low Depth & width of the product
It was concluded that in order to sustain the quality of the business
McDonalds should follow a key mantra change with the change in
customers taste
The recommendations are that McDonalds should bring in more
varieties in its veg as well as non veg products and also should make
some special provisions regarding birthday celebrations which would
surely enhance the business as well as increase the brand recognition
and awareness.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction........................................................................5
2. Literature Review...............................................................6

3. Methodology......................................................................8
4. Findings..............................................................................9

5. Analysis of Survey10

6. Conclusions.......................................................................1
5

7. Recommendations............................................................16

8. Appendices.......................................................................17

9. Bibliography.....................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Title Of The Study
McDonalds the most popular Fast Food chain in India.

Field Of Study
How can McDonalds cope up with the growing competition eating away its
market share?

Functional Area
Operations Management

Objective Of The Study

To study the key weaknesses of the McDonalds that is leading to the loss of its
business and giving an edge to its competitors.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The story of McDonlads started in 1954 when its founder Raymond Kroc saw
a hamburger stand in San Bernardino ,California and envisioned a nationwide
fast food chain.Today McDonalds is the world largest fast food chain serving 47
million customers daily .
McDonalds entered India in 1996 .McDonalds India has a joint venture with
Connaught Plaza Restaurants and Hard Castle Restaurants. McDonalds has been
a leading fast foods outlet in Pune. But the outlet understudy has other
competitors eating away into the market share .In addition to its traditional
rivals KFC, Dominos, Pizza Hut-the firm encounters new challenges. Jumbo
King competes using a back to basics approach of quickly serving up burgers
for time pressed consumers.This bring us to service and experience based
competition which McDonalds can use for competitive advantage against
Jumbo King .Keeping in mind the demographies of the area ,McDonalds has
WiFi the outlet to cater to the student community .It is for this overall Food
,Fun & Folks experience that customers pay a premium over the other
competitors.
Competition also reduces product lifecycle; inducing firms to revise their
product portfolios and to revisit their product market to understand changing
needs, expectations and perception of different market segments .The new
McBreakfast would be introduced between 6 to 11 am as a pilot project.This
would open up a whole new revenue stream for McDonalds by tapping into the
student and working population by providing a healthy & wholesome
breakfast.McDonalds has anticipated these changes to maintain its competitive
edge.
The requirements of customers change over time and thus the product offering
has to be changed accordingly. What is in Fashion today may be out of market
within few weeks.Thus continuous innovation is required

Revitalizing a product in decline phase

French Fries have been an important part of the McDonalds menu worldwide.
But now it was in the stage of decline and was actually not generating proper
return. In an attempt to revitalize it ,a new variant was introduced namely shake
shake Fries.This is being served with chatpata spice mix which has resulted in
increase in the sales of French Fries and has elevated from to the decline stage
This is used to delay the decline of a well established product which has the
potential of generating further revenue.

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTH
Strong Brand

WEAKNESS
Low depth & width of the product

Customer Intimacy
Product Innovation
Supplier Integration

OPPORTUNITY
Expand into Tier2 & Tier3 cities
Entry into Breakfast category

THREAT
Changing customer lifestyle and taste
Increased competition

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Data Collection was done from various sources including the outlet managers,
crew members and the customers with diverse age groups in the form of
questionares and feedback forms. Online blogs were also be used for taking
suitable suggestions.

Limitations
One of the key points that can act as a limitation is the target customers
may not give their feedback properly.
Demand of customers may vary in different regions and cities and also it
may vary for different age group customers

FINDINGS
In general, the findings indicated that...
Due to the changing lifestyle and taste of the customers and also the increased
competition McDonalds is losing its business. Along with this there are several
other causes like : Long Queues
Rude Behaviour Of Employees
Congestion

Apart from this some Improvement is also required under the following heads:

Delivery Time
Capaciousness
Product Variety
Prices

ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY

PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION

47%

53%

OF RESPONDENTS

MALES
FEMALES

The percentage classification of the respondents ,who took

part in the survey ,on the basis of the gender revealed the
figures as shown by the pie chart.
The percentage of male respondents who took part in the
survey was 53.3 %.
Whereas the percentage of female respondents who took part
in the survey was 46.7 %.

NORMAL

FOOD

7%
53%

HABITS

40%

OF RESPONDENTS

VEGETERIAN
NONVEGETERIAN
BOTH

Considering the food habits of the respondents the vegetarian

respondents were in total 40% whereas the non-vegeterian
respondents constituted 53.3% of the total number.
However, there were respondents who took both veg and non
-veg food items and their percentage was 6.7 %

AGE

GROUP

27%

OF

7%
67%

RESPONDENTS

UNDER 20 Yrs
21-25 Yrs
26-30 Yrs

Age group of the respondents proves to be a crucial factor in

getting the response of a survey cause the respondents differ a
lot in terms of taste and choice according to the age group.

In my survey the majority of the participants were under the

age group of 21-25 years.

COMPETITORS ANALYSIS

RESPONDENTS WHO ALSO GO TO OTHER FAST FOOD OUTLETS

45%
50.00%
40.00%
27%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%

19%
9%

McDonalds has been a leading fast food outlet in India.But

the Outlet understudy has other competitors eating away into
its market share.In addition to its traditional rivals KFC,
Dominos , Pizza Hut the firm encounters new
challenges.Subway competes using a back to basics approach
of quickly serving up hamburgers and customizing it
according to the needs of the customers.
In my survey the major threat to the McDonalds business is
posed by the Dominos who is eating away 45% of its
customers.

SOME OTHER RESPONSES FROM THE

RESPONDENTS

Based on the customer experience of visiting the McDonalds

the resposes of the customers have been put in the percentage
basis as follows:
QUEUE
CONGESTION

Frequently Occasionall
y
34%
57%

Rarely

Frequently Occasionall
y
CELEBRATION
31.6%
52.4%

Rarely

FOOD
QUALITY

Excellent

Average Needs
Improvem
22.3%
6.7%

EMPLOYEE

Good

BIRTHDAY

BEHAVIOUR

27.5%

67%

Good
43.5%
Satisfactory
26.3%

9%

16%

Rude
0%

Never
0%
Never
0%

Needs
Improvem

6.7%
VISITING
DAYTIME

Morning
12%

Afternoon
14.4%

Evening
66.9%

Night

6.7%

CONCLUSION

The requirements of customers change over time and thus the

product offering has to be changed accordingly. What is in
Fashion today may be out of market within few weeks.Thus
continuous innovation is required.

Competition also reduces product lifecycle ; inducing firms to

revise their product portfolios and to revisit their product
market to understand changing needs, expectations and
perception of different market segments

RECOMMENDATIONS
The Road Ahead.

Entry to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities :

The main target customers for McDonalds is the new urban
Indian Family.With the customer demographics constantly
changing and tectonic social and cultural shifts being
observed in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities due to globalization , the
company is now expanding to Tier 2 cities like Pune and
Jaipur.

Rolling out McBreakfast across all outlets :

In India company should think of entry into the breakfast
category.This would be looked upon as a key growth driver
in future.
Apart from this some Improvement is also required under
the following heads:
Delivery Time
Capaciousness
Product Variety
Prices

APPENDICES

As attachments I hereby enclose the Questionare format along

with this report.

REFERENCES

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11520753/Marketing-Strategies-of-McDonalds
www.Mcdonaldsindia.com
Outlet Manager-McDonalds ,Hinjewadi
Mr.IMRAN MADKI (MANAGER)
Tel. No. 020-32335352,66000666
mob.No. 9922665444