Mcdonalds

In this assignment, I will be describing the different methods that are used to track and evaluate customer satisfaction for a selected product. I will also describe the different quality systems that are used by an organisation and see how they evaluate their customers. The chosen that I have chosen for this assignment is McDonalds and the selected product I have chosen is the ‘Happy Meal’.

Customers are the main priority for all profit making organisations as without them, organisations such as McDonalds cannot make any profit from their services. This is why customers are vitally important in the process of organisations interacting with them. McDonalds ensure that they keep track of customer satisfaction as ensuring that they provide good customer service to their customers can potentially lead to customers purchasing their products.

This will keep both McDonalds and the customer happy as the customer is financing into the organisation and the customers themselves are on the receiving end of good quality products. However, if McDonalds do not keep track of their customer satisfaction, they are potentially missing out on methods to build on that customers are demanding. This is why customer satisfaction must be of a good standard and always kept track of at all times.

McDonalds keep track through customer satisfaction through many different methods such as through their own employees and the products that they sell. McDonalds keep track of their employees as it allows them to see what their customers think and be able to put forward any queries, problems or suggestions they may have in order for McDonalds to run more efficiently. In relation to the happy meal, this is targeted to all types of customers, mainly being the younger generation such as kids and children.

This is indicated in the product itself as the happy meal consists of a kid’s toy so that children are ‘happy’ once they have had their product. However, as McDonalds is a very large organisation in which they believe that customer importance is vital to them, they place suggestion schemes in order for McDonalds to receive external views on the product so that areas for improvement can be made. If McDonalds can do this successfully, this will enhance the popularity for the product as they are meeting customers needs and wants to make the product better and more efficient.

Mystery shoppers

Mystery shoppers are a very common method used by organisations to see whether their employees are performing to the standards that are expected from them. They are used as a tactic approach as employees will be tested through another person observing as a ‘normal’ customer. The employees of the organisation will not at any stage know that they are being observed or will they know which customer will be the mystery shopper. This is great for an organisation such as McDonalds as providing good customer service to their customers is seen as vital to the organisation. McDonalds have mystery shoppers working for their organisation as it allows them to see if their employees are providing good customer service and whether that they are maintaining it on a regular basis. Key point’s mystery shoppers cover for McDonalds will be whether the employees provide the food ordered within their time limit, whether they were greeted and see if the employees were friendly. These are some of the points that mystery shoppers most commonly cover when they monitor employee progress.

Gap analysis

A Gap analysis is a tool that is used by marketing managers to decide upon marketing strategies and tactics. This allows them to see where they (organisation) want to reach over a period of time and the level if the organisation does nothing at all. The larger the gap between these 2 will indicate that it will take longer for the organisation to gain more of the market share, which is bad for an organisation such as McDonalds.

This is indicated clearly on the graph that if an organisation maintains their normal levels of operation and predict their level of market share they wish to be at, the gap shouldn’t be too significant if the organisation is operating efficiently.

When the marketing department of McDonalds can conduct how the gap will be judged over the period of time that is expected, the quicker thing to do next will be to find ways in order to close the gap as close as possible. By McDonalds doing this, this shows that they are operating more efficiently and that they are achieving a bigger market share. However, in order for this gap to be closer together, McDonalds will have to find ways in order to fill the gap that they wish to achieve. This depends on what McDonalds hope to achieve i. e. market share or whether they should introduce a new product on to the market.

This is linked to Ansoff’s matrix as it allows McDonalds to decide on whether they should introduce a new product to their market or whether they should introduce existing products to the current market. The diagram below is Ansoffs matrix diagram.

Market penetration is basically introducing existing products to the current market. This mainly focuses on the organisation increasing the market share on current products so that they can secure dominance in the growth market. McDonalds do this by ensuring their prices are at a competitive level in order for them to rival other competitors.

Market development is when the organisation introduces existing products to a new market. McDonalds do this by having franchisees around the world so that it increases the popularity of the products they sell. McDonalds also do this by making sure that their packagings on their products are up to date and of new design very often. The happy meals they sell have their packaging changed very often and the toys are chose sparingly when customers purchase this product. Making the product more appealing will encourage customers to purchase and increase the overall development of the product itself.

Product development is when the organisation introduces new products to an existing market. McDonalds do this often, most recently with their McFlurry, as they introduced the overall product as an ice-cream, but they introduce the new product by it consisting of many new flavours. The product itself is already on the market by they re-introduce it every time they establish a new flavour.

Diversification is when the organisation introduces new products to a new market. This is the most risky strategy out of the 4 as the organisation are about to introduce a completely new product into anew market, in which they can be unsure about the successfulness of the product and the reaction into the new market. However, McDonalds will cover this and can work around this as they can invest a lot of money into making sure any new products are well publicised.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the process of being able to measure and compare organisational performances against other organisations that are of greater presence in the same market. Benchmarking is used by organisations to improve the overall performance so that they can compare themselves against other organisations. McDonalds would benchmark by comparing their own performances against maybe Burger King, who are in the same market.

Organisations who want to benchmark will have to conduct a specific programme in which they have to identify their organisation strengths and weaknesses (areas of improvement). Then, organisations such as McDonalds will have to gather information and data and see how other organisations such as Burger King tackle the same problem. Only doing this, only then can organisations see how well they are doing in the market.

Ishikawa (fishbone analysis)

The Ishikawa diagrams, also known as the fishbone analysis, is a process that is commonly used by organisations as it allows them to find out where their potential problems are and the source of the problem. McDonalds use this to make sure that they capture problems at an early stage and that they can identify where the problem started. The Ishikawa diagram is stated below.

The Ishikawa diagram that is show above reveals the factors that potentially occur in modern day organisation. Key factors such as transport, premises, people, clients, finance and I. T are some of the factors that can lead to the main problem of an organisation. The smaller arrows under the main headings are the key points that could potentially lead to the main problem.