The Marketing Strategy Process

Implemented On
McDonalds
Submitted to:
Maam Qurat-ul-Ain
Submitted by:
Dated:

Laraib Asad
IM-2242
19th-feb-2013

Marketing Strategy Process:

It is a planning process that seeks to establish a clear direction for an organizations
vision about the market of its interest, selecting market strategies, setting objectives and
developing, implementing and managing the marketing program positioning strategies
designed to the value requirements of customers in each target market.
It consist of four phases
Strategy analysis
Strategy planning
Strategy development
Strategy implementation

Strategy Analysis:
It consists of identifying markets, segments and providing customer value to the people
(customers). Markets need to be defined so that buyers and competitors are analyzed.
Organization need to go for situational analysis SWOT to evaluate and prioritize their
strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths shows the capabilities of
organization to serve a particular market and weaknesses are the problematic areas which
organization needs to overcome. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors which are
under the control of organization. Opportunities and threats are external to organization
for which they have to conduct research of market. Opportunities are the areas where a
company can expand itself while the evaluation of threats tells about the competitive
forces in an external environment.
Implementation:
McDonalds is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants. It was founded by Ray
croc. Before entering Pakistans market, they have conducted situational analysis to
identify the needs of the people of Pakistan. McDonalds entered via joint venture in
Pakistan. It was a joint venture between McDonalds Corporation U.S.A and Ghaos Akbar
corporation (pvt) ltd. There situated a great potential for the McDonalds in Pakistan
because the people now prefer ready to eat and easy going meal. Their target market
consist of a group of people who are office goers and they hardly have time to cook n eat
(Drive-thru, a brand new feel of comfort for On the Go) and it was the first company to
introduce free home delivery in Pakistan. An individual have to rush for an office he can
easily grab food from McDonalds and reach to the office on time. Other includes
children, high income groups, youngsters and families.
It was opened in Pakistan in 1998 in Lahore via joint venture. They faced competition by
KFC and pizza hut that were already providing best services to their customers but
McDonalds has made their way to capture the largest no. of customers of Pakistan. They
provide value to their customers by providing unmatched quality, service, and cleanliness
every time.

Strategy Planning:
Once situational analysis is conducted, market sensing information play a key role in
designing marketing strategy which includes a no. of strategies to capture the target

market. McDonalds major goal is to strengthen a reputation as an innovator, while

introducing new products into the market.
Implementation:
Functional Marketing strategies of McDonalds:
Differentiation:
By pursuing a strategy of differentiation, an organization gives an emphasis to a
particular element of a marketing mix that is seen by the customers to be important and as
a result provides a meaningful basis for competitive advantage.
They differentiated themselves by introducing first ever company to provide home
delivery. By now they have introduced McDonalds breakfast with a tag line the worlds
best has arrived.
Diversification:
McDonalds is horizontally integrating itself by increasing the number of outlets. At the
same time they are bringing up the diversification in products by offering new deals.
Positioning:
McDonalds is known for its innovative market positioning. There is no doubt that
McDonalds rapid growth is based on intelligent and smart business ideas based on the
dynamics of business environment and societal changes.

Strategy Development:
Strategy planning helps the organization to develop marketing program components. It
may include product, distribution, price and promotion strategies.
Product development:
The company goal is to strengthen a reputation as an innovator, while introducing new
products into the market.
Implementation:
The people of Pakistan are more concerned with the taste of the products rather than the
other things, so McDonalds considered the changes in the customer mind about its
products and services and served according to the changing perceptions of customers.
The near future period will be different from today, so it is critical for McDonalds, it
should introduce all the time new products that make it differentiated and it must sustain
it so that no other competitor can copy their products and there should be lesser chances
of product imitation. If product imitation is possible then it should keep on introducing
new products. For this it may altogether change the whole product and can bring a new
product or sometimes any major modification in the existing products. So we recommend
that McDonald should apply the Product Development at all times whenever the need
arises.
Value-Chain Strategy:
The relationship partner may include their end user, suppliers, distributors and competitor
alliances and internal teams. To enhance their relationships they need to satisfy customers
by providing value and also coping with changing conditions of economy and
Organization should have large no. of suppliers so that it can dictate their prices to the
supplier. The relationship between supplier and the organization should be on fair means

and both the parties should not exploit each others rights. The organization should earn
the trust of supplier so that in bad economic conditions suppliers are with the company.
Implementation:
McDonald has established long term relations with its suppliers because it purchases in
large volume, in this way the supplier power is reduced and McDonald purchases its
supplies on the low price basis and it avails the benefits of economies of scale. And the
brand offered by the supplier is not differentiated so it makes easy for McDonald to
switch to another supplier and decreases the suppliers power. The only factor that gives
some power to supplier is the switching costs for McDonald's if it goes to any new
supplier it will have to deteriorate old arrangements and develop new ones.
Pricing Strategy:
Pricing strategy also play a role in positioning a product or service. Price is set according
to the buying power of the target customers. If the target market is lower class then have
to provide a product with low price and good quality.
Implementation:
McDonalds worldwide has the same concept of giving food of high quality at lower
prices. They are charging a price, which they think is a fair value to the customer, and not
on the basis of competition. McDonald's have Mac Index, and they dont increase prices
even in crisis.
Promotion Strategy:
Promoting the product is one of the essential activities of marketing. This is the basic way
of communicating with the customers. Without it, the customers dont know what the
company is offering. It informs, reminds and persuades the customer and other who
influence the purchasing process.
Implementation:
On its inauguration day, there came a full page advertisement in The News, Dawn
announcing its opening. Major medium used by McDonald's is billboards, which are
made by MMT to promote their brand. The advertising agency working for McDonald's
in Pakistan is Manhattan Communications (Pvt.) Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Manhattan
Leo Burnet, USA. This company handles the promotion of McDonald's in all those
countries where its branches, subsidiaries or partnerships are present.

Strategy Implementation & Controlling:

It is the action stage where the developed strategies come into existence. They need to
develop a match between the business level strategies and marketing strategies to
successfully implement developed strategies. Time to time evaluation helps the
organization whether they are on their right direction towards achieving the goals.
Implementation:
McDonalds provide training to the employees and they helped to develop consensus so
that each and every personnel within the organization following the same direction to
achieve its mission.