Marketing
Group # BSEB155
Michael Griffith
August 21, 2004
Company Overview
McDonald's has built itself into the number one food service retailer in the world with over 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries; it serves over 47 million customers daily. The company's mission is to leverage the unique talents, strengths, and assets of our diversity in order to be the world's best quick-service restaurant experience (McDonalds.com, 2004). Founded in 1937 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald, the company began as a simple food processing and assembly line at a small drive-in restaurant; business expanded slowly. Noticing an opportunity, salesman Ray Kroc negotiated a franchise deal and eventually bought the brothers out in 1967. The company has enjoyed a long run of success in its over 40 years in business but encountered a rough stretch over the past 18 months, reporting its first ever quarterly loss of $343.8m in January 2003.
McDonalds
McDonalds
English: McDonald's Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwic...Description of New Service Offering
McDonald's new service offering extends beyond the fast-food market to provide customers with high-speed wireless access to the Internet in its restaurants. The service would allow customers to use their laptops, PDA's, and other portable devices to connect to the Internet through wireless access points known as hotspots. High-frequency wireless local area networks (WLANs) are quickly gaining popularity among an increasingly mobile Internet user. The most commonly used version of the IEEE standard, 802.11b, provides data rates up to 100 megabits per second and operates in a free, unlicensed 2.4 GHz frequency band shared by cordless phones and microwave ovens (Indianchild.com, 2003).
The proposed new service offering would provide McDonald's customers in key U.S. markets with high-speed wireless access to the Internet. This service will be available through its chain of coffee shops known as McCafés. Currently available in a trial rollout in selected locations...