¶ … Internal Supply Chain at a Local McDonald's
Description of the company from an Australian market perspective, the products offered in the store visited, and the supply chain in which the store operates
The Australian McDonald's corporate Web site indicates that the company opened its first restaurant in an Australian suburb in 1971 and there are currently almost 800 McDonald's restaurants throughout the country, employing approximately 85,000 people (About us 2011). Although Australian McDonald's typically feature a majority of the standard fare offered at the company's restaurants around the world, some also feature regional specialties as shown in Table 1 below.
Representative products from a Sydney-based McDonald's restaurant
Meal
Product
Breakfast
Boston deli bagel
NYC benedict bagel
Bacon and egg McMuffin
Bakehouse brekkie roll
Rosti brekkie wrap
Assorted beverages
Lunch/Dinner
Hamburger/cheeseburger permutations
French fries
Baked fruit pies
McChicken sandwich
Chicken McNuggets
Filet-o-Fish
Various "combo" meals
Various family "dinner box" meals (available 5:00 P.M. -- 11:00 P.M. only)
Assorted beverages
Competitive priorities that the company is trying to achieve
Beyond the competitive priorities the company has with other fast food operators and traditional restaurants, an emerging competitive priority for McDonald's Australia is to distinguish itself by its corporate social responsibility and commitment to Australian vendors. In this regard, the company reports that, "McDonald's is committed to supporting Australian producers and manufacturers and our first preference is always to source produce from within Australia whenever it is viable and appropriate to do so" (Our suppliers 2011, p. 1). To its credit, the company is good to its word and almost 95 per cent of the company's food and packaging requirements in recent years have been locally acquired (Our suppliers 2011).
The company also makes it clear that among their primary competitive priorities is the need to establish a rapport with their internal and external customers that is characterized by long-term trust and loyalty. For instance, according to the Australian corporate Web site for McDonald's, "With more than one million people coming through our restaurants every day, it's their trust in our integrity that keeps them coming back. We earn that trust by respecting our customers...
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