Elephants and Cheetahs: Systems, Strategy and Bottlenecks
Case analysis: “McDonald’s Corporation (Abridged)”
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
submitted by
Group No.2 (EC-B)
Ankala Akhilesh
Namrata jaiswal
Prathamesh Chaudhari
Racha Srikanth
Sangeetha Venkatraman
Sanket Vyavhare
Situational Analysis
McDonald’s successfully became the consumer’s brand of choice for fast foods with its primary
product offerings of hamburgers, French fries and milk shakes.
Limited menu size, high volumes, lower costs and thereby lower prices, perfection of the
operating system and; standardization, regular monitoring of suppliers and franchisees and;
meticulous attention to detail were the prominent reasons for McDonald’s success. As opposed to
its competitors, it restricted its menu to 10 items to ensure that it could dig in on every part in the
supply chain and maintain high quality standards desirable to customers.
Product improvement, outstanding relationships with suppliers, equipment improvement and
training and monitoring franchisees were the key areas of focus for McDonald’s. It worked in an
integrated fashion with its suppliers, franchisees and customers and encouraged them to
experiment and improve in all areas of its modus operandi. This approach earned McDonald’s
their loyalty and by virtue of their support, it was able to launch popular items like the Egg
McMuffin or the Chicken McNuggets.
McDonald’s earned the trust of the suppliers as it helped them earn a fair share of the profit and
ensured reliability of orders in return for adherence to specifications. The franchisee model also
helped McDonald’s grow at a rapid pace and the franchisees were treated as partners. As
