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McDonald’s India – plotting a winning strategy

Swapna Pradhan (Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai, India)

Publication date: 26 June 2018

Abstract

Subject area

Business strategy.

Study level/applicability

The case has been written with the objective of enabling the students to understand the dynamics of a rapidly changing emerging market. It is structured for use at a Master-level course and an MBA audience in the subject of Business Strategy.

Case overview

The case details the growth story of American fast food chain McDonalds in West and South India markets. Westlife Development Limited (WDL) operates McDonald’s chain of quick service restaurants (QSR) in these markets; they entered the markets in the year 1996 and since then have adopted various market strategies such as investments in multiple format QSRs, aggressive rollouts of new QSRs, increase in product variants etc. for a sustained growth trajectory. However, the increased competition from both the national and international QSR brands and the new segment of competition from “techie” food aggregators challenges their prospects to maintain a number one position in these markets. As Amit Jatia – the Vice President of WDL − prepares his presentation for the scheduled Executive Leadership Team meeting, he seeks answers to two prime questions a) How could WDL once again regain the number one status in these markets? b) What best strategies the team needs to adopt to remain relevant to the Indian consumers?

Expected learning outcomes

The case study should enable the student: 1. To comprehend the complexities of the Indian QSR market and its competitive dynamics 2. To analyze the factors contributing to the growth of the India QSR sector. 3. To identify the market factors that led WDL to adapt their strategy to the market 4. To understand the significance of business strategy localization as adopted by WDL in the markets of West and South India. 5. To evaluate sources of competitive advantage for McDonald’s in the West and South India markets.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Disclaimer. This case is written solely for educational purposes and is not intended to represent successful or unsuccessful managerial decision-making. The authors may have disguised names; financial and other recognizable information to protect confidentiality.

Citation

Pradhan, S. (2018), "McDonald’s India – plotting a winning strategy", , Vol. 8 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-11-2017-0253

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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