M RahmanStakeholders of McDonald’s (An analysis of McDonald’s stakeholders)
This is a detailed analysis of the stakeholders of McDonald’s. It aims to examine the main stakeholders of McDonald’s and how it engages with them. McDonald’s is one of the largest quick service restaurants in the world. Its operations are spread across 120 countries and territories.
McDonald’s serves more than 69 million people every day worldwide (McDonald’s, 2023). It regards its customers, suppliers, and employees as its main stakeholders. These stakeholders have impacts on its operations and are affected by it as well.
Internal stakeholders of McDonald’s
The main internal stakeholders of McDonald’s include the leadership team, employees, and shareholders.
Leadership team of McDonald’s
The leadership team is led by the President and Chief Executive Officer who is supported by several Executive Vice Presidents, and Senior Vice Presidents. They are very powerful and decide the future directions of the company.
Employees of McDonald’s
McDonald’s is one of the largest employers in the world. It employs a huge number of people worldwide. Employees are at the forefront of its operations, and customer satisfaction is heavily dependent on their friendly and professional service. They provide a variety of services, including cooking, serving, cleaning and many more.
Indeed, employees are the backbone of McDonald’s; without them, it would not exist in its current form. However, Alfonseca (2021) reports that some of its employees protested in the USA over poor working conditions and low wages.
Shareholders of McDonald’s
Shareholders are an important stakeholder of McDonald’s. They are typically a group of people/organisations who invest in it and, in return, receive ownership rights. It is worth mentioning organisational shareholders of McDonald’s have higher power over individual ones as they own the majority of the shares.
Franchisees of McDonald’s
Approximately 93% Of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by franchisees who are independent local business owners (McDonald’s, 2023). These franchisees have invested millions of dollars into their restaurants, which means that they want to see a good return on their investments. As such, they have a vested interest in ensuring that McDonald’s is as profitable and secure as possible.
External stakeholders of McDonald’s
The main external stakeholders of McDonald’s include the customers, suppliers, governments, and local communities.
Customers of McDonald’s
Customers are extremely important as the company’s existence depends on every single customer it serves. It serves around 3.5 million customers in the UK and over 69 million worldwide every day (McDonald’s, 2023). However, its customer base in the USA is gradually waning. Likewise, its appeal to millennials is not cutting across either.
Suppliers of McDonald’s
McDonald’s works with a number of suppliers to procure both food and non-food items to run its operations. Suppliers are very important because they help the business thrive by providing it with much-needed materials. For instance, Lopez Foods provides McDonald’s with USDA-inspected beef in the USA. Likewise, Kenny Longaker, Frank Martinez, and Keystone Foods supply a wide variety of items to keep the restaurant’s operations going.
It is worth mentioning that McDonald’s has a policy of maintaining trusted relationships with the suppliers. This trusted relationship is vital as delay or poor quality of raw materials may affect its operations and customer satisfaction badly.
Competitors of McDonald’s
McDonalds faces several competitors that challenge it every day in its global markets. Burger King, KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Domino’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Wendy’s are some of those competitors. It is worth noting that McDonald’s is No.2 popular dining brand in the UK (Lock, 2022).
Other stakeholders of McDonald’s
McDonald’s also engages with some other stakeholders. For example, it engages with experts from different sectors, local communities, non-governmental organisations and so on. Relationship with these stakeholders help it in many different ways.
For instance, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) experts led an independent analysis of the supply chain of McDonald’s in the past to help it identify the raw materials that represented the biggest sustainable sourcing opportunities for it to prioritise (McDonald’s, 2023).
McDonald’s has over the years become a member of a number of non-government organisations e.g. Alliance for a Healthier Generation, WWF’s Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance, and Global Food Safety Initiative to contribute to the global efforts to deal with social and environmental issues. It established a Global Community Leadership Board long time ago to improve community relations worldwide through disaster relief and charity donation.
Stakeholder conflicts affecting McDonald’s
It is important to note how the stakeholders’ interests might not always align with each other. For example, employees are interested in pay rise, while shareholders are interested in profits. McDonalds focuses on cost-cutting, while suppliers are interested in higher prices for the products they supply to it.
How does McDonald’s communicate with its stakeholders?
McDonald’s communicates with its stakeholders regularly. It has an internal communication team for that purpose and uses a number of communication channels. For instance, it uses the intranet and weekly newsletters to communicate with the employees.
The advertising campaigns of McDonald’s are designed to provide customers with the information on its products so that they can make informed decisions. McDonald’s also has a dedicated media team to deal with all press enquires (McDonald’s, 2023).
Summary of the ‘Stakeholders of McDonald’s (An analysis of McDonald’s stakeholders)’
In conclusion, it is clear that McDonald’s has several stakeholders who often have opposing interests. They also have varying degrees of power. Therefore, it must work meticulously to ensure that it is not compromising with their satisfaction, and they are engaged in line with its stakeholder engagement policy.
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Last update: 15 January 2023
References:
Alfonseca, K. (2021) Restaurant workers protest poor working conditions and low wages at McDonald’s, Chipotle, and more amid coronavirus pandemic, available at: https://abcnews.go.com/US/restaurant-workers-protest-poor-working-conditions-low-wages/story?id=77599754 (accessed 21 March 2022)
Lock, S. (2022) Most popular dining brands in the United Kingdom (UK) as of December 2021, available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/950444/most-popular-restaurant-brands-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/ (accessed 22 March 2022)
McDonald’s (2023) About us, available at: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-us.html (accessed 15 January 2023)
Author: M Rahman
M Rahman writes extensively online and offline with an emphasis on business management, marketing, and tourism. He is a lecturer in Management and Marketing. He holds an MSc in Tourism & Hospitality from the University of Sunderland. Also, graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University with a BA in Business & Management Studies and completed a DTLLS (Diploma in Teaching in the Life-Long Learning Sector) from London South Bank University.
