1. Determination – to not be discouraged by your defeat, to try and try again until you reach success. Ray showed this in the scene where he goes to many different restaurants to sell the milkshake mixer and they all turn him down however, he does not stop trying
Promoter – communicator, speaks boldly, persuasive and enthusiastic. In the opening scene, Ray shows all these traits when he gives his sales pitch trying to sell the mixer. He also shows these traits when he is practicing his speech in the mirror in the closing scene.
Opportunity Seeker – A person that pursues an established opportunity. In the scene where Ray gets a phone call from his assistant and calls the brothers, he shows pursuant qualities by driving down to investigate.
2. The supply and demand principle: Demand refers to the amount of product or service is wanted by customers. The quantity demanded is the amount of a product people are willing to buy for a certain amount of money. Supply represents how much the market can offer. The quantity supplied refers to the number of certain goods producers are willing and able to supply when receiving a certain price. Price, therefore, reflects supply and demand.
3. a.)
– They attracted “less than desirable clients “
– The service was bad because it took too long
– The orders normally where wrong
– Amount of staff required created a huge payroll
– Dishes constantly getting broken or stolen also created a huge payroll
b.)
– Taking away carhops decreased the amount of staff needed
– Creating a system where you walk up to the window and place the order yourself ensured customers receive correct orders
– Getting rid of cigarette machines and jukeboxes drove away the undesirable clients
– Creating the “speedy system” made the service faster than ever.
– replacing dishes with disposable paper packaging ensure dishes weren’t stolen or broken.
4. Something that creates a unique or compelling atmosphere through its looks and how it makes you feel. MacDonald’s created a family friendly environment my taking away cigarette machines and jukeboxes and replacing them with trash cans for the disposable packaging, this creates a clean friendly atmosphere. Fast service and friendly employees also created a good mood for the restaurant.
5. Fast service and quality – the idea of fast food was that the customer get the food as fast as possible while still upholding quality. Dick Macdonald tried to ensure the principles of the company would be upheld which was quality.
6. Introduction – the launch of the all new MacDonald’s
Growth – business is booming
Maturity – sales begin to level off
Decline – start to attract undesirable customers
7. During the opening of the new MacDonald’s they experience issues such as people waiting in their car to be served because of the usual trend of drive-ins and their poor learning curve (social factors) and during the grand reopening, all the lights attracted flies (environmental factors). These issues fall under the PESTLE analysis, therefor they had no control over the issues.
8. Macdonald’s past customers gave a good first impression because it had tasty food and an ambience of simple (because of the menu) and efficient (because of the speedy system) and this attracted the customers back to the store. The word spread about MacDonald’s and customers came to try it out along with their families. Macdonald’s uniqueness brought back the customers.
9. Quality control is a process that a product or service adheres to a defined set of quality criteria or meets the requirements of the customer. Macdonald’s had a set of qualities such as the menus and ingredients but the franchises where not on the same level of standard with filthy kitchens and inconsistent menus. They were selling burritos. The mission of MacDonald’s was to ensure quality and the franchisers did not work because they could not uphold the consistency. “its better to have 1 great restaurant than 50 mediocre ones”.
10. Ray looked at the Macdonald’s in Phoenix and saw the potential of the company with all it structural beauty. He saw that the company was destined for a great future and he felt that he had to be part of it no matter what.
11. a.)
contracts are valid when:
All parties must be in agreement (an offer is made by a party and accepted by another).
Something of value must be exchanged – such as cash, services, or goods (or a promise to exchange such an item) – for something else of value.
b.)
the flaw in the contact was that the brothers did not state that the land in which the Macdonald’s franchises where built on was owned by Macdonald’s the company, they only claimed ownership of the building itself.
12. When a business has a competitive advantage, it means the business has that edge over its competitors in the market place. Competitive advantage is formed through exploiting opportunities. This gives the company a chance to grow either their sales, number of customers, or income. Macdonald’s has created an image which gives them the competitive advantage. An image of family through the experience of the customer, and place to come together because of the customer convenience created. The whole operation of the company has created a competitive advantage because of the product and service differentiation. Another point towards Macdonald’s good competitive advantage is the relationship between the company and society (CSR) because it serves as a place where Americans come together to break bread.
13. Capital is a form of money or assets, taken as a sign of the financial strength of a company or person , and assumed to be available for development or investment. Ray got enough money to start franchising by mortgaging his house (Internal economic capital).
14. Ray put everything on the line to afford that piece of property and start his journey to what he hoped was success. All he had at that moment was that land and the dirt he had in his hand. He opened his first franchise on that piece of land and that not only led to many, many more, but it also led to him claiming the company from the brothers as the land was his and creating his success.
15. The newly employed franchisees showed teamwork when the husband was managing the staff and the wife was handing out suckers to the kids outside and the team of staff inside the kitchen showed teamwork to deliver the meals according to the Macdonald’s system.
16. Forming – takes place when the team meets. Team members learn about the project they will be working on, discuss the project’s objectives and goals and start thinking about the role they will play on the project.
Storming – the team begins to work together. In this stage, team members compete with one another for status and for acceptance of their ideas. They have different opinions on what should be done and how it should be done – which causes conflict within the team.
Norming – the team members begin to work more effectively as a team. They stop focusing on their individual goals, but rather focus on developing a way of working together toward a common goal. Performing – the team is functioning together. The focus is on reaching the teams goal. The team members know, trust and rely on each other.
17. Market development:
a strategic step a company takes to develop the current market rather than looking for a new market. The company looks for new customers in different areas to increase sales. Ray was looking to offering Macdonald’s to customers in a second store. He spoke about moving west but the owner of the restaurant pitched Ray a deal to be the franchisee of a second Macdonald’s in the same town
18. a.)
current ratio
b.)
it works by calculating current assets over current liabilities. It will determine if the business can generate enough money to pay off it liabilities with its assets. It measures the businesses ability to pay off its short-term obligations within a year. It is used to estimate the financial health of the company. It can give a sense of the efficiency of a company’s operating cycle or ability to turn product into cash. The desirable current ratio is 2:1. It the ratio is lower then the company is in trouble because it indicates that the business will not be able to pay off liabilities in time. In it is higher than that ratio it means that the company is not utilizing its money efficiently as it should.
c.)
Ray spent most of the capital opening franchises and was not making enough money to open more because he was only breaking even, due the fact the he only got 1,4 % of net and the walk-in freezers cost a lot to run. A resource-based approach was used by evaluating the value of the milkshakes, finding other possible solutions that are more optimal and obtaining the powdered milkshake. Th Delphi technique was also used when the expert opinion of Harry was introduced
19. Ray bought the plots of land and leased it out to the franchisee’s and ensured that within the deal they could only lease from him. This created a steady upfront revenue stream and greater capital for expansion which led to more land. This gave Ray control over the franchisee rather than the brothers.
20. Ray Kroc buying the brothers out of the contract and then lying about being the founder on the business card. Ray Kroc agreeing to pay the brother a share of the profit and not abiding to the handshake. Both these actions were unethical.
21. He wanted the name, Ray thought of it as a name with endless possibilities. ”it sounds like America”, Ray said.
22. He bought out the brothers for 2,7 million dollars and terminated the contract between them. He trademarked the name so that they were not allowed to be part of the business in any way. He left them with their restaurant, but they could not call is Macdonald or MacDonald’s.