Topic Choices included in paper instructions

Marketing
Name
Institutional Affiliation

Abstract
The following essay is based on an online article about McDonald’s and illustrates an understanding of a major principle of marketing. The essay begins by developing a thesis statement to the article. The paper then draws on marketing topics studied in this course to show how they are applicable to the article. The topic chosen is strategic planning and competitive advantages. The choice of this topic was motivated by the fact that McDonald’s decision to source cage-free eggs was a strategic planning, which could enhance the corporation’s competitive advantages in the industry. This important strategic plan was in response to the growing customer preference for healthier products. Although the plan could be too costly for McDonald’s and its suppliers, it was an illustration of the company’s continued commitment to provide high-quality products that exceed customers’ expectations. In addition, the plan could enable McDonald’s to develop competencies in key aspects of its business, especially supply chain management. In the long-term, McDonald’s could benefit from an enhanced capacity to defend its leadership position despite increasing competitive pressures.
Strategic Planning and Competitive Advantage
Strategic planning is a key driver of competitive advantages in an organization. It involves developing a realistic vision for the business, allocation of resources and setting of parameters for evaluating progress (Yoo, Donthu & Lee, 2000).

In today’s world of business where customer preferences change very often and competition is a major issue, strategic planning enables business to create unique brands, which lead to clear competitive edge over rivals. In the article titled Free Bird, Kowitt (2016) has explained how the world’s largest fast food restaurant (McDonald’s) is using strategic planning to maintain its leadership position in the industry. The corporation’s strategic plan involves making a full transition into cage-free eggs.
Although McDonald’s is a key player with near monopolistic powers in some markets, the industry’ competitive landscape has changes drastically over the years. In addition, customer attitudes about safety and sourcing of foodstuffs have changed. Naturally, McDonald’s has had to review its business strategies and realign them with the new realities of the market. This strategic decision is the subject of focus in Kowitt’s article. It can be noted that most of the corporation’s customers were concerned about the health effects of antibiotics and hormones used in chicken. In an attempt to address customers’ increasing preference for natural and organic food, McDonald’s made a decision to enrich its menus with cage-free eggs for all its restaurants in the US.
An important aspect of strategic planning is the focus on quality improvement. According to Jain (2001), quality is the guiding principle behind strategic moves in organizations. It describes a management approach for achieving high levels of business success through sustained customer satisfaction. McDonald’s decision to source only cage-free eggs reinforces the significance the corporation places on the quality of food to meet customers’ expectations. In practical ways, the decision shows how McDonald’s is working with egg suppliers and farmers to advance socially and environmentally friendly practices. Considering the corporation’s huge size and scale of operations, sourcing cage-free eggs is a strategic move whose long-term impacts could be a consistent supply of safe and high-quality eggs.
There are a number of important business management lessons that can be learnt from McDonald’s strategic plan of sourcing cage free eggs. First, it is important to have flexibility in the strategic plan so that it is easier to take advantage or react to changes in the external environment (Marilen, Cristina & Claudiu, 2009). As explained in the case, McDonald’s decided to roll out the plan by starting out with the US restaurants. Gradually, the plan could be extended to restaurants in other parts of the world. In effect, McDonald’s can study the success and challenges of the plan in the US to determine the best ways of implementing it in other markets. This could allow the corporation to avoid costly mistakes so as to achieve greater competitive advantages. Likewise, the strategic plan’s flexibility could provide for an understanding of related opportunities that could be pursued by the corporation in the long-term and short-term.
Secondly, McDonald’s strategic plan shows that when major decisions are communicated clearly across the various stakeholder groups, the competitive edge is secured. According to Michael and Kaye (2005), a success of strategic plans depends on key stakeholders working closely to set goals and execute core activities to achieve desired objectives. This enables all parties to achieve mutual gains. As part of its strategic plan, McDonald’s involved egg suppliers and setting out clear goals for the plan. This goal made the suppliers important strategic partners. For long-term gains, partnering with stakeholders to execute strategic plans helps organizations to achieve goals that may not be achieved if each stakeholder worked in solitude. For example, if McDonald’s did not involve stakeholder in the cage-free eggs campaign, it could be difficult to achieve the goals.
Third, the success of McDonald’s strategic plan reinforces the importance of leadership involvement. The plan to transition into cage-free eggs was initiated by the company’s Chief Executive Officer. According to Wayland and Cole (2007), members of top-tier management have an important role to play in implementing strategic plans. They help in an allocation of resources and in mobilizing and motivating employees to work towards the set goals. McDonald’s CEO helped in setting a vision for the plan, which in turn helped employees to support the change process. Arguably, if the CEO had not participated in the entire process, resistance to change could have been high.
The last lesson is that strategic plans can be too costly to implement despite the immense benefit that can be derived from them (Baumol & Alan, 2006). McDonald’s strategic plan of transition to cage-free eggs could cost egg sellers about $ 7 billion. This amount is equal to the entire industry’s annual retail sales, an indication that the risks are very high. Thus, risk management is an important consideration in strategic planning. A key to effective risk management is to understand how changes in the market can be turned into opportunities for business growth. For example, McDonald’s determined that customer’s preference for the healthier product. This led to the decision to use cage free eggs, which are natural and organic.

References
Baumol, W., & Alan, S. (2006). Macroeconomics: Principles and Policy, Thomson South-Western, Retrieved from http://www.cengage.com/search/productOverview.do;jsessionid=6ECC339386B8AFE49B27E7BA5305118D?N=16&Ntk=P_EPI&Ntt=1780656367145180037899556704454578220&Ntx=mode%2BmatchallpartialJain, P. (2001). Quality Control and Total Quality Management. Chicago: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Quality_Control_and_Total_Quality_Manage.html?id=8Q3sRWAAP74CKowitt, B. (2016). Free Bird: Mc Donald’s Bold Decision to Go Cage-Free. Fortune, Retrieved from http://fortune.com/mcdonalds-cage-free/
Marilen, P., Cristina, N., & Claudiu, B. (2009). The role of strategic planning in modern organizations. Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, 11(2), 953-958. http://www.oeconomica.uab.ro/upload/lucrari/1120092/40.pdfMichael, A., & Kaye, J. (2005). Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons.
Wayland, R., & Cole, P. (2007). Customer Connections: New Strategies for Growth. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Customer-Connections-New-Strategies-Growth/dp/0875847994
Yoo, B., Donthu, N., & Lee, S. (2000). An examination of selected marketing mix elements and brand equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(2), 195-211, Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1177/0092070300282002