Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Big Mac: Inside the McDonald’s Empire

CNBC did a special on the world's largest restaurant company in the world called "Big Mac: Inside the McDonald's Empire". In this video they tell about all of McDonald's huge successes and how far they come since they started in 1955. Everyone knows how well they do year after year, but a lot of people don't know about the struggles they have gone through and are still dealing with today. According to this video, in 2002 McDonald's reaching a point where they got so overwhelmed and had their first quarterly loss ever. They blame this on trying to open so many stores at once and lack of attention being paid to the branches they already had opened leaving customers unhappy. They got back on track by refocusing on the basics of what makes a restaurant business successful, like clean bathrooms and serving food that isn't cold.
Another issue that McDonald's still has to deal with is the growing concerns about how unhealthy their food is. They have made attempts to add healthier options to their menu, but let's be real: not a lot of people go to McDonald's to get a salad and some apples. They go for their famous burgers and fries. That is what they have been selling since they opened and shouldn't have to change that. It is good that they are at least giving people the choice to pick a healthier meal. By doing this they are conforming to outside standards and avoiding criminal misconduct. These precautions are mentioned in our book and are features of compliance-based ethics codes. McDonald's did not have to change their menu, because it is not against the law to have a menu without healthy alternatives. However, they still decided it was unethical to continue just serving foods that are high in calories and fat.

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