McDonald's has never been content to sit back and wait for consumer tastes to change around it. Rather, the company continues to do what it can to shape the face of fast food and influence the marketplace with new offerings and other changes. In recent years, however, the drive by McDonald's to reinvent itself has risen to another level in the face of stiff competition from healthier alternatives(Subway) and a general feeling by the public that major fast-food companies are not much different from one another in terms of their prices, quality, service levels, and product offerings. When fast food seemed synonymous with "greasy," "overcooked," and "fried," McDonald's changed things up with their healthy options menu, including wraps, grilled options instead of the production line fried foods, fresh fruit, and yogurt-based smoothies. These menu changes were doubly effective: They allowed McDonald's to compete directly with other stores that promoted healthy alternatives, like Subway, and they took some of the rhetorical wind out ofthe sails of their harshest critics, including the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who, in 2011, banned the inclusion of a toyin McDonald's Happy Meals®, claiming that the "pester power" of children could induce parent to buy these unhealthy lunch choices. McDonald's response was twofold: Offer healthy options like milk and apple slices in Happy Meals®, and instead of eliminating the toys, McDonald's charged 10 cents for the addition ofa toy, with the proceeds benefiting the Ronald McDonald House. McDonald's continues to set the pace in the fast— food industry. When competitors offer their own healthy menus, they are often seen as simply copying and therefore acknowledging the prescience of McDonald's in staying ahead of the consumertrend curve. The fast - food industry has been the butt ofjokes and held up to general disapproval for a number of years due to charges that it offers increasingly poor choices to patrons who don't know any better. Unlike some competitors who seem content to keep their menus unchanged and their products unhealthy, McDonald's has been doing what is necessary to change who they are, reinvent themselves, and keep their fingers firmly on the pulse of their international customer base. Recently, McDonald's has been focusing on investing in technology to drive sales growth, especially in the area of digital sales. The company has been installing digital self- order kiosks in their restaurants and expanding food delivery. McDonald's has also been ramping up its tech—focused investments. In 2019 alone, the company acquired Apprente, a Silicon Valley company using artificial intelligence to automate drive-thru orders, and Dynamic Yield, a company that specializes in decision logic technology. CEO Chris Kempczinski emphasizes the importance of technology shaping the company's strategy in 2020
and beyond: "Digital is transforming global retail, and it will transform McDonald's.
Analyse the significance of McDonald's relationships with its suppliers. How does the company maintain strong partnerships and ensure quality and consistency in its supply chain while operating on a global scale? Substantiate your discussion with examples.