Market Segmentation

1.Introduction

1.1. History of McDonald's Corporation

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, primarily selling hamburgers, french fries, soft drinks, milkshakes and desserts. It appeals to local taste preferences with relevant offerings like the offerings of one-third pound Big Tasty in most Europe and Latin America.

McDonald's began in 1940 and opened by siblings Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. “We take the burger business more seriously than anyone else." is the philosophy of McDonald’s. The successful expansion of McDonald's into many international countries make the company become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. However, it also make it a frequent topic of public debates about obesity, corporate ethics and consumer responsibility.

There are at least 31,000 McDonald can be found in 120 countries and territories around the world serving nearly 54 million customers each day. McDonald's has always been a franchising company and has relied on its franchisees, to play a major role in the System's success. It remains committed to franchising as a predominant way of doing business.

2. Macro environment force

2.1 Political-legal environment

Marketing decisions are strongly affected by development in political and legal environment. This environment is composed of laws, government agencies, and pressure groups that influence and limit various organizations. Companies should establish legal review procedures and promulgate ethical standards to guide their marketing managers (Kotler et al. 2003).

The establishment of consumer affairs department in McDonald’s help formulate policies and respond to consumer complaints. As they know that if they fail to do so, angry customers will spread bad word of mouth through chat rooms and other means.

By recognizing this, there were still many legal cases involving workers' rights can be found in the history of McDonald’s. For instance, the company was fined for illegally employing and over-working child labor in one of its London restaurants