Based on reading Ch 1 and 2 from the above book, Reflection-in-Ac.docx

Based on reading Ch: 1 and 2 from the above book, Reflection-
in-Action Entry should be 400 words in length. Discuss and
reflect on the topic in terms of:
1. How the content and assignments met the course
objective(s)? [Course: Managing System Change And Improving
Patient Outcomes]
2. Provide examples of actual or potential applications of the
course week’s course concepts.
3. Successes or challenges that you had for the week in terms of
the course content
Running head: OPERATIONS EXCELLENCE
1
OPERATIONS EXCELLENCE
8
Practicum – Week 6 Journal Entry
Student 1
Student 2
Student 3
Student 4
Professor
Date
The impact of Operation Excellence on the Performance of
McDonald’s in the Fast Food Industry
1.0 Introduction

Businesses operate in the competitive environment and thus
operational excellence facilitates the execution of a business
strategy in a reliable and consistent manner. The operational
excellence strategy derives the competitiveness of the business
from enforcing practices that aim at achieving better results. A
company enforces the most effective strategy that has minimal
operational risks, low operation costs, and enhanced revenue
relative to its rivals (Oakman, 2014). Mainly, operations
excellence is a management philosophy embedded on
continuous improvement modes, such as lean thinking,
Scientific Management, and Six Sigma. Importantly, the focus
of operational excellence is on long-term improvement and
change in organizational culture in order to realize
sustainability. The fast food industry, like any other market, is
very competitive. In effect, players in the industry strive to
enforce operation excellence as a way of gaining leverage and
remaining ahead of competitors. One of the firms operating
within this industry is McDonald's. McDonald's was established
on 15 April 1955, Des Plaines, Illinois, and since then, the
company has continued to dominate the industry and its global
presence is a good indication of how the company has remained
successful amidst the competition. In effect, the objective of the
research is to review the manner in which operational
excellence has facilitated McDonalds’s success within the
global fast food industry.
1.1 Background
As postulated by Oakman (2014), organizations that pursue
operational excellence strive to manage their business and
operations using a systemic approach as well as investing in
developing the right organizational culture that promotes the
consistent and reliable execution of the business strategy.
Within organizations, operational excellence is manifested
through integrated performance across all departments; that is,
the increase in revenues, reduced operational costs, and lesser
business risk. In this regard, the focus of operational excellence

is to meet the expectations of clients which are attained through
continuous improvement of organizational processes and
adjusting the organizational culture to reflect the new strategy.
Numerous research studies have been conducted to analyze the
role of operational excellence in enhancing the performance of
an organization. Largely, these studies have focused on how the
enhancement in organizational efficiency has been implemented
with the goal of remaining competitive. In this regard, only
limited research has been conducted to investigate how
multinational companies use operation excellence such as
McDonald's to implement and sustain efficiency in the
performance of the organization in order to realize success.
With the expansion of the knowledge and venture of companies
in the global markets, businesses are confronted with the
challenge of implementing an effective strategy to ensure
success. Business owners and operations managers are feeling
the increased pressure to effectively manage the complexity of
the business by putting into place system controls that will help
them to proactively manage the complexity through enforcement
of control systems to function in the competitive environment
and adapt to the prevailing market trends. At the present,
operational excellence is among the key business concerns for
executives, more so for global companies in their quest for
profitability and business consistency. An evaluation of the
global markets shows that operational excellence has proved
critical for companies that derive products and services to
clients (Belekoukias, Garza-Reyes, and Kumar, 2014).
The applicable theory in the study of operational experience is
the Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints as postulated by Costas et
al. (2015). In order to investigate the impact of operations
efficiency on organizational success, the model offers a
framework that can be applied in outlining the most integral
factors that limit attainment organizational goals in an effort to
address the constraints limiting the firm's performance. In this
regard, the theory offers powerful tools regarding the approach

that companies can implement to realize operational excellence.
McDonald's fast food chain has been selected for the current
analysis as an organization implementing operational excellence
strategies across its global network of fast food outlets. As the
company expands to new regions across the world, the
operational strategy will be aimed at making the firm more
competitive.
According to Oakland (2014), operation excellence is described
as an outstanding practice that the organization implements to
achieve outstanding results. The practice of operational
excellence has been built around a number of concepts that
collectively are geared to achieving organizational success.
These concepts include results orientation: focus on customer
service delivery, leadership, and consistency of purpose,
effective management of processes and facts, people
engagement and development and continuous learning. Other
factors that are embodied in operation excellence include
innovation and improvement, facilitating continuous learning
developing partnerships and being public responsible.
Organizations embrace operations excellence as an approach for
achieving organizational strategic objectives and clients’
expectation. Organizations thus implement the concept of
operational excellence by integrating leadership and teamwork,
as well as problem-solving as measures of constant
improvement throughout the organization as well as addressing
the welfare of employees and meeting the demands of clients.
The idea behind operational excellence is to maximize the
existing processes within the firm in order to give the company
leverage over other players in the industry.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In the wake of increased competition on the global scale and
global downturn in the economy, many businesses have been
compelled to review their strategy in order to boost their

efficiency to survive. Measures such as cost-cutting and
efficiency strategies are some of the approaches that firms are
implementing to counter the inherent challenges. Operational
excellence offers a viable choice for domestic and global
companies to gain a competitive edge and survive in the
industry. Nonetheless, not many firms have successfully
implemented the practice, mostly because of the lack of skilled
personnel to facilitate the process. Even though McDonald's has
implemented operational efficiency in its strategy, there is a
need for the company to explore the successful integration of
the practice into the overall business strategy on the global
scale as a way of attaining a competitive edge. Most studies that
have been facilitated with regard to operational efficiency have
mainly focused on the Six Sigma approach and the inclusion of
total quality management in organizational processes. The
knowledge gap that the current study seeks to address is on how
operational excellence can be integrated with McDonald’s
overall business model to attain success.
1.3 Main Research Objectives
The Objectives That the Research Seeks to Achieve are as
Follows
i. To establish the operational excellence strategies that are
implemented at McDonald’s
ii. To examine the impact of operational excellence strategy in
Macdonald’s performance and competitiveness.
iii. To establish and suggest operational strategies that
McDonald’s can implement to realize organizational efficiency
iv. To suggest ways of integrating operational efficiency into
McDonald’s overall strategy as a way of enabling the business
to survive the competitive business setting.

1.4 Justification
The study is critical in helping regulators and policymakers to
come up with effective business strategies that incorporate
operational excellence as the most effective approach to
realizing competitiveness and organizational excellence in the
fast food industry. International companies venturing into the
global business environment are confronted with challenges in
operating the business in an environment with intense rivalry.
As such, operational excellence is considered as one among the
most effective strategies that the business will be implementing
across its global outlets to realize success.
1.5 Limitations
There are various limitations to this study. First McDonalds is a
multinational fast-food chain with many outlets across the
globe. In this regard, the business dynamics across the regions
of operations vary significantly. Therefore, it will be
challenging selecting a representative sample that will truly
reflect the operational efficiency factor from a general outlook.
Notably, this challenge can be overcome by choosing a case
study, whereby the focus of the research will be within a single
region such as the United States only. This approach is ideal
especially when McDonalds's outlets in one region will be
selected to feature the representative sample. The second
limitation is the time and financial resource constraint that
researcher will face in conducting the research. This challenge
can be overcome by scheduling the research activities within the
given time period to ensure that the research is conducted
within the projected time to avert delays or changes in the
project scope, as well as additional costs.
2.0 Research Methodology
The methodology section covers the approach that was applied

in the research. Mainly it incorporates a blueprint that
facilitated the collection, measurement, and analysis of the data.
Aspects covered include the research design, the target
population, the research sample, and methods applied in the
analysis.
2.1 The Research Design
The study conducted relied on case study design. In regard, a
survey was conducted by selecting a representative sample so
that the outcome could be generalized to the overall population.
The research is both quantitative and qualitative research,
whereby data was collected from the selected participants using
interview schedules then generalized to the entire population of
study. The case design approach adopted in the research
attempted to define the subject by establishing a profile to
denote a group of problems. Mainly, this was achieved through
the collection of data and tabulation of the frequencies to show
a correlation between the research samples (Flick, 2014). The
approach was considered ideal for the research as it facilitated a
reflection of the right state of affairs regarding the
implementation of operational excellence at McDonald’s
without deviating from the aim of the research.
2.2 Data Collection
The study made use of interview schedules to facilitate the
collection of primary data. The questions in the schedules were
open-ended. Data were collected from among top ten employees
at McDonald's. The key goal of featuring the company's top
management on the research is because they are responsible for
strategy formulation at the camp and implementation of
strategies that influence organizational performance. The
interview guide as the tool for data collection was adopted
because of its applicability both to the research problem and
sample selected for the research.
2.3 Sample

The population for the research featured top management at
McDonald's and the representative sample was selected from
among the top management of the outlets featured in the study.
The overall participants who undertook the research are ten
managers who are in charge of strategy formulation and
implementation at McDonald's. Stratified random sampling was
used to select a representative sample of the research. The
interview guides were administered by booking an appointment
with the managers in their most convenient time. The approach
allowed the managers to be interviewed at their most convenient
time as their busy schedule limited their availability for the
study and the approach was critical in enhancing the response
rate.
2.4 Data Analysis
The collected data was qualitative and therefore content
analysis was applied to facilitate the analysis. The analysis was
achieved through the development of a thematic framework of
evaluation that was based on the key issue, themes, and aspects
arising from the research. The information gained from the
analysis was then interpreted and presented in a narrative
format (Flick, 2014).
3.0 Results and Findings
3.1 Introduction
The section presents the analysis and findings of the research to
demonstrate the impact of operational excellence on the
performance of McDonald’s within the fast food industry. The
study targeted the top ten management staff at the selected
outlets of the company and all of them contributed to the
survey. As a result, a 100% response rate was achieved. The
high response rate was attributed to prior preparation and
informing the respondents beforehand in order for them to avail

themselves for the research. As affirmed by Flick (2014), a high
response rate enhances the validity and reliability of the
research and the generalizability of the collected data to the
entire population featured in the research.
3.2 Respondents’ Demographics
To capture the background of the respondents featured in the
research, data regarding them was presented to show the
participants’’ profile in terms of age, level of education, work
experience and their perception of the company's
implementation of operational excellence strategies and how
this has influence organizational success. The analysis was
critical in enhancing the reliability of the data and providing an
overall outlook of the featured respondents.
3.2.1 Gender
In terms of gender representation, the findings are as shown.
The findings of the research show that majority of the
respondent were male respondents (67%), whereas women were
33%. Such is an indication that most top management positions
at McDonald's are male-dominated
3.2.2 Gender
The respondents were also analyzed in terms of their age and
the results are as depicted
The analysis indicates that majority of the top management who
were interviewed are aged 45 years and above a factor
associated with their long-term of service and experience, which

has influenced their promotion at the company.
3.2.3 Level of education
Another demographic aspect that was applied in analyzing the
respondents was their level of education and the findings are as
shown.
As indicated in the pie chart, the majority of the top managers
at McDonald’s have a master’s degree where the second highest
category is composed of Ph.D. holders. As such, the top
management at the company has a high level of education, a
factor attributed to the requirements of the job.
3.2.4 Wok Experience
The respondents were also ranked in terms of their work
experience; that is, based on the duration that they have served
at the company. The results are as shown,
The results indicate that the majority of top management at
McDonald's have work experience of over four years, and this
explains their rise through various career ranks which have been
linked to their experience on the job.
3.3 Identification of areas of operational Experience
The study sought to establish the strategies of operational
experience that McDonald's has implemented. The findings as
deduced from the top management interviews are as outlined
3.3.1 Implementation of strategies for continuous improvement
The study has sought to establish the extent to which the

company had implemented strategies to ensure continuous
improvement of the company’s processes. As documented from
the responses of the top management at McDonald's, the fast-
food chain has implemented a number of continuous
improvement strategies with the goal of attaining a competitive
edge over other industry players. These strategies include
continuous improvement of menus available, product
innovation, outstanding customer delivery, and continuous
improvement of service delivery to clients.
3.3.2 Operation excellence strategies implemented at
McDonald's
The study sought out to establish the operational excellence
strategies that the fast food chain implements to attain
organizational efficiency. Based on the feedback from the
respondents, the company applies various operational strategies.
These include employee development and engagement, emphasis
on customer satisfaction, continuous learning, and innovation
and implementing diverse efficiency delivery systems to ensure
organizational success, In addition, visionary leadership and
innovation in information systems are ways that the company
has implemented to realize organizational efficiency. Again,
respondents cited the company's participation in corporate
social responsibility initiatives and ensuring the integration of
the company's long-term goals into its strategy as ways of
forging synergy that has facilitated the company's success.
3.3.3 Features Characterizing operational efficiency
implementation
The study has sought to establish the aspects that denoted
operational excellence strategies implemented at the
McDonald’s. Based on the findings, the interviewed top
management members pointed out different features denoting
that operational excellence was being implemented at
McDonald's as part of its strategy. In this regard, the identified
features included results-driven operations, constant

improvement in products and service, empowerment of staff,
delivering customer value through customized menus and
effective service delivery, focus on financial excellence, and
integration of technological innovations into the company’s
operations as a way of attaining efficiency. Through
coordinated decision-making and optimizing service delivery,
McDonald's has remained competitive in the market and this has
been attributed to the adoption of operation excellence
strategies in order to realize a competitive edge over rivals.
3.3.4 The Extent to Which McDonald’s has recruited expertise
to facilitate operational excellence implementation
The respondents were interviewed with regard to which they
considered the company to have implemented sustainable
operational experience as part of the organizational strategy.
Based on the responses, finding indicated that the fast-food
chain had to a large extent recruited the relevant professionals
to assist the firm in leveraging on operational excellence as part
of its organizational strategy. Mainly, this was attributed to the
recruitment of highly trained and experienced staff with a
positive attitude to help make a positive contribution to the
company towards the realization of its strategic goals. The
ability of a company to compete effectively in the marketplace
is largely based on its ability to integrate operational excellence
as part of its collective strategy. The approach is particularly
important in the achievement of competitiveness in the
marketplace and building a sustainable business that will thrive
irrespective of the intense market competition it will encounter.
3.4 Discussion and Findings
The study has established that McDonald's has implemented a
wide range of operational excellence approaches that have
enabled the firm to remain competitive in the market in order to
enhance service delivery and product innovation. This indicates
that the management at McDonald's has been keen on

implementing operational excellence standards to enable the
firm to remain competitive. These findings are in line with
those of Carvalho et al. (2017) who established that
implementing operational excellence in the form of Six Sigma
facilitates an enterprise to conduct continuous improvement of
all its operational areas to achieve both financial and
nonfinancial performance. Operational excellence has been
noted to play a strategic role in effective decision making,
facilitating sound investment decisions, and ensuring that the
company remains profitable with low employee turnover.
McDonald's high market share and competitiveness in the
industry has been attributed to its operational excellence
strategies that have enabled the firm to conduct continuous
improvement of its operations and products to not only meet the
demands of the clients but also build a solid business network
that is renowned for its quality products and efficient service.
Again, the findings of the research show that McDonald’s has
been implementing a number of operational standards such
employee development and inclusion, emphasis on continuous
improvements, efficiency in delivery, visionary leadership and
building of partnerships as part of its strategy as defined in its
strategic goals. The strategies have been effective in achieving
customer engagement and ensuring all stakeholders are aware of
the company's strategic goal in order to make a positive
contribution to the company and success as well. Largely, the
findings regarding the operational stands implemented by
McDonald's based on the research coincide with the findings of
Belekoukias, Garza-Reyes, and Kumar (2014), who noted the
importance of lean operations in maximizing company profits
and providing customers the right value so that they remain
loyal to the business. Through the implementation of these
strategies, McDonald’s will continue to remain competitive and
control a large market share in the fast food industry.
4.0 Conclusion and Recommendations
The study has established that McDonalds’s has to a great

extent put into place operational excellence strategies that have
enabled the company to attain a competitive edge in the fast
food industry through effective customer service delivery and
continuous enhancement of its operations. Mainly, this implies
that the company has been keen on implementing operational
excellence standards with the goal of enhancing the company's
operations. The operational strategies that McDonald's has been
implementing have been centered on employees’ development
and engagement, continuous learning and innovation, focus on
customer satisfaction and putting into pace efficient service
delivery systems.
Recommendations have been put forward for McDonald to
replicate the operational excellence standards across its fast-
food network across the globe as a way of realizing competitive
advantage. In the wake of new market entrants joining the fast
food industry and existing companies implementing operational
excellence standards, McDonald’s can only thrive amidst the
competitive environment if they integrate operational
excellence into their overall strategy. In effect, the company
needs to formulate effective policies that ensure that are in line
with operational excellence in all their processes to promote its
brand across the globe.
References
Belekoukias, I., Garza-Reyes, J. A., & Kumar, V. (2014). The
impact of lean methods and tools on the operational
performance of manufacturing organizations. International
Journal of Production Research, 52(18), 5346-5366.
Carvalho, A. M., Sampaio, P., Rebentisch, E., Carvalho, J. Á.,
& Saraiva, P. (2017). Operational excellence, organizational
culture and agility: the missing link?. Total Quality
Management & Business Excellence, 1-20.
Costas, J., Ponte, B., de la Fuente, D., Pino, R., & Puche, J.

(2015). Applying Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints to reduce the
Bullwhip Effect through agent-based modeling. Expert Systems
with Applications, 42(4), 2049-2060.
Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research. Sage.
Oakland, J. S. (2014). Total quality management and
operational excellence: text with cases. Routledge.
Running head: OPERATIONS EXCELLENCE
1
OPERATIONS EXCELLENCE
8
Practicum – Week 6 Journal Entry
Student 1
Student 2
Student 3
Student 4
Professor
Date
The impact of Operation Excellence on the Performance of
McDonald’s in the Fast Food Industry
1.0 Introduction
Businesses operate in the competitive environment and thus
operational excellence facilitates the execution of a business
strategy in a reliable and consistent manner. The operational
excellence strategy derives the competitiveness of the business
from enforcing practices that aim at achieving better results. A

company enforces the most effective strategy that has minimal
operational risks, low operation costs, and enhanced revenue
relative to its rivals (Oakman, 2014). Mainly, operations
excellence is a management philosophy embedded on
continuous improvement modes, such as lean thinking,
Scientific Management, and Six Sigma. Importantly, the focus
of operational excellence is on long-term improvement and
change in organizational culture in order to realize
sustainability. The fast food industry, like any other market, is
very competitive. In effect, players in the industry strive to
enforce operation excellence as a way of gaining leverage and
remaining ahead of competitors. One of the firms operating
within this industry is McDonald's. McDonald's was established
on 15 April 1955, Des Plaines, Illinois, and since then, the
company has continued to dominate the industry and its global
presence is a good indication of how the company has remained
successful amidst the competition. In effect, the objective of the
research is to review the manner in which operational
excellence has facilitated McDonalds’s success within the
global fast food industry.
1.1 Background
As postulated by Oakman (2014), organizations that pursue
operational excellence strive to manage their business and
operations using a systemic approach as well as investing in
developing the right organizational culture that promotes the
consistent and reliable execution of the business strategy.
Within organizations, operational excellence is manifested
through integrated performance across all departments; that is,
the increase in revenues, reduced operational costs, and lesser
business risk. In this regard, the focus of operational excellence
is to meet the expectations of clients which are attained through
continuous improvement of organizational processes and
adjusting the organizational culture to reflect the new strategy.
Numerous research studies have been conducted to analyze the
role of operational excellence in enhancing the performance of

an organization. Largely, these studies have focused on how the
enhancement in organizational efficiency has been implemented
with the goal of remaining competitive. In this regard, only
limited research has been conducted to investigate how
multinational companies use operation excellence such as
McDonald's to implement and sustain efficiency in the
performance of the organization in order to realize success.
With the expansion of the knowledge and venture of companies
in the global markets, businesses are confronted with the
challenge of implementing an effective strategy to ensure
success. Business owners and operations managers are feeling
the increased pressure to effectively manage the complexity of
the business by putting into place system controls that will help
them to proactively manage the complexity through enforcement
of control systems to function in the competitive environment
and adapt to the prevailing market trends. At the present,
operational excellence is among the key business concerns for
executives, more so for global companies in their quest for
profitability and business consistency. An evaluation of the
global markets shows that operational excellence has proved
critical for companies that derive products and services to
clients (Belekoukias, Garza-Reyes, and Kumar, 2014).
The applicable theory in the study of operational experience is
the Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints as postulated by Costas et
al. (2015). In order to investigate the impact of operations
efficiency on organizational success, the model offers a
framework that can be applied in outlining the most integral
factors that limit attainment organizational goals in an effort to
address the constraints limiting the firm's performance. In this
regard, the theory offers powerful tools regarding the approach
that companies can implement to realize operational excellence.
McDonald's fast food chain has been selected for the current
analysis as an organization implementing operational excellence
strategies across its global network of fast food outlets. As the
company expands to new regions across the world, the

operational strategy will be aimed at making the firm more
competitive.
According to Oakland (2014), operation excellence is described
as an outstanding practice that the organization implements to
achieve outstanding results. The practice of operational
excellence has been built around a number of concepts that
collectively are geared to achieving organizational success.
These concepts include results orientation: focus on customer
service delivery, leadership, and consistency of purpose,
effective management of processes and facts, people
engagement and development and continuous learning. Other
factors that are embodied in operation excellence include
innovation and improvement, facilitating continuous learning
developing partnerships and being public responsible.
Organizations embrace operations excellence as an approach for
achieving organizational strategic objectives and clients’
expectation. Organizations thus implement the concept of
operational excellence by integrating leadership and teamwork,
as well as problem-solving as measures of constant
improvement throughout the organization as well as addressing
the welfare of employees and meeting the demands of clients.
The idea behind operational excellence is to maximize the
existing processes within the firm in order to give the company
leverage over other players in the industry.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In the wake of increased competition on the global scale and
global downturn in the economy, many businesses have been
compelled to review their strategy in order to boost their
efficiency to survive. Measures such as cost-cutting and
efficiency strategies are some of the approaches that firms are
implementing to counter the inherent challenges. Operational
excellence offers a viable choice for domestic and global
companies to gain a competitive edge and survive in the

industry. Nonetheless, not many firms have successfully
implemented the practice, mostly because of the lack of skilled
personnel to facilitate the process. Even though McDonald's has
implemented operational efficiency in its strategy, there is a
need for the company to explore the successful integration of
the practice into the overall business strategy on the global
scale as a way of attaining a competitive edge. Most studies that
have been facilitated with regard to operational efficiency have
mainly focused on the Six Sigma approach and the inclusion of
total quality management in organizational processes. The
knowledge gap that the current study seeks to address is on how
operational excellence can be integrated with McDonald’s
overall business model to attain success.
1.3 Main Research Objectives
The Objectives That the Research Seeks to Achieve are as
Follows
i. To establish the operational excellence strategies that are
implemented at McDonald’s
ii. To examine the impact of operational excellence strategy in
Macdonald’s performance and competitiveness.
iii. To establish and suggest operational strategies that
McDonald’s can implement to realize organizational efficiency
iv. To suggest ways of integrating operational efficiency into
McDonald’s overall strategy as a way of enabling the business
to survive the competitive business setting.
1.4 Justification
The study is critical in helping regulators and policymakers to
come up with effective business strategies that incorporate
operational excellence as the most effective approach to

realizing competitiveness and organizational excellence in the
fast food industry. International companies venturing into the
global business environment are confronted with challenges in
operating the business in an environment with intense rivalry.
As such, operational excellence is considered as one among the
most effective strategies that the business will be implementing
across its global outlets to realize success.
1.5 Limitations
There are various limitations to this study. First McDonalds is a
multinational fast-food chain with many outlets across the
globe. In this regard, the business dynamics across the regions
of operations vary significantly. Therefore, it will be
challenging selecting a representative sample that will truly
reflect the operational efficiency factor from a general outlook.
Notably, this challenge can be overcome by choosing a case
study, whereby the focus of the research will be within a single
region such as the United States only. This approach is ideal
especially when McDonalds's outlets in one region will be
selected to feature the representative sample. The second
limitation is the time and financial resource constraint that
researcher will face in conducting the research. This challenge
can be overcome by scheduling the research activities within the
given time period to ensure that the research is conducted
within the projected time to avert delays or changes in the
project scope, as well as additional costs.
2.0 Research Methodology
The methodology section covers the approach that was applied
in the research. Mainly it incorporates a blueprint that
facilitated the collection, measurement, and analysis of the data.
Aspects covered include the research design, the target
population, the research sample, and methods applied in the
analysis.

2.1 The Research Design
The study conducted relied on case study design. In regard, a
survey was conducted by selecting a representative sample so
that the outcome could be generalized to the overall population.
The research is both quantitative and qualitative research,
whereby data was collected from the selected participants using
interview schedules then generalized to the entire population of
study. The case design approach adopted in the research
attempted to define the subject by establishing a profile to
denote a group of problems. Mainly, this was achieved through
the collection of data and tabulation of the frequencies to show
a correlation between the research samples (Flick, 2014). The
approach was considered ideal for the research as it facilitated a
reflection of the right state of affairs regarding the
implementation of operational excellence at McDonald’s
without deviating from the aim of the research.
2.2 Data Collection
The study made use of interview schedules to facilitate the
collection of primary data. The questions in the schedules were
open-ended. Data were collected from among top ten employees
at McDonald's. The key goal of featuring the company's top
management on the research is because they are responsible for
strategy formulation at the camp and implementation of
strategies that influence organizational performance. The
interview guide as the tool for data collection was adopted
because of its applicability both to the research problem and
sample selected for the research.
2.3 Sample
The population for the research featured top management at
McDonald's and the representative sample was selected from
among the top management of the outlets featured in the study.
The overall participants who undertook the research are ten

managers who are in charge of strategy formulation and
implementation at McDonald's. Stratified random sampling was
used to select a representative sample of the research. The
interview guides were administered by booking an appointment
with the managers in their most convenient time. The approach
allowed the managers to be interviewed at their most convenient
time as their busy schedule limited their availability for the
study and the approach was critical in enhancing the response
rate.
2.4 Data Analysis
The collected data was qualitative and therefore content
analysis was applied to facilitate the analysis. The analysis was
achieved through the development of a thematic framework of
evaluation that was based on the key issue, themes, and aspects
arising from the research. The information gained from the
analysis was then interpreted and presented in a narrative
format (Flick, 2014).
3.0 Results and Findings
3.1 Introduction
The section presents the analysis and findings of the research to
demonstrate the impact of operational excellence on the
performance of McDonald’s within the fast food industry. The
study targeted the top ten management staff at the selected
outlets of the company and all of them contributed to the
survey. As a result, a 100% response rate was achieved. The
high response rate was attributed to prior preparation and
informing the respondents beforehand in order for them to avail
themselves for the research. As affirmed by Flick (2014), a high
response rate enhances the validity and reliability of the
research and the generalizability of the collected data to the
entire population featured in the research.

3.2 Respondents’ Demographics
To capture the background of the respondents featured in the
research, data regarding them was presented to show the
participants’’ profile in terms of age, level of education, work
experience and their perception of the company's
implementation of operational excellence strategies and how
this has influence organizational success. The analysis was
critical in enhancing the reliability of the data and providing an
overall outlook of the featured respondents.
3.2.1 Gender
In terms of gender representation, the findings are as shown.
The findings of the research show that majority of the
respondent were male respondents (67%), whereas women were
33%. Such is an indication that most top management positions
at McDonald's are male-dominated
3.2.2 Gender
The respondents were also analyzed in terms of their age and
the results are as depicted
The analysis indicates that majority of the top management who
were interviewed are aged 45 years and above a factor
associated with their long-term of service and experience, which
has influenced their promotion at the company.
3.2.3 Level of education

Another demographic aspect that was applied in analyzing the
respondents was their level of education and the findings are as
shown.
As indicated in the pie chart, the majority of the top managers
at McDonald’s have a master’s degree where the second highest
category is composed of Ph.D. holders. As such, the top
management at the company has a high level of education, a
factor attributed to the requirements of the job.
3.2.4 Wok Experience
The respondents were also ranked in terms of their work
experience; that is, based on the duration that they have served
at the company. The results are as shown,
The results indicate that the majority of top management at
McDonald's have work experience of over four years, and this
explains their rise through various career ranks which have been
linked to their experience on the job.
3.3 Identification of areas of operational Experience
The study sought to establish the strategies of operational
experience that McDonald's has implemented. The findings as
deduced from the top management interviews are as outlined
3.3.1 Implementation of strategies for continuous improvement
The study has sought to establish the extent to which the
company had implemented strategies to ensure continuous
improvement of the company’s processes. As documented from
the responses of the top management at McDonald's, the fast-
food chain has implemented a number of continuous
improvement strategies with the goal of attaining a competitive

edge over other industry players. These strategies include
continuous improvement of menus available, product
innovation, outstanding customer delivery, and continuous
improvement of service delivery to clients.
3.3.2 Operation excellence strategies implemented at
McDonald's
The study sought out to establish the operational excellence
strategies that the fast food chain implements to attain
organizational efficiency. Based on the feedback from the
respondents, the company applies various operational strategies.
These include employee development and engagement, emphasis
on customer satisfaction, continuous learning, and innovation
and implementing diverse efficiency delivery systems to ensure
organizational success, In addition, visionary leadership and
innovation in information systems are ways that the company
has implemented to realize organizational efficiency. Again,
respondents cited the company's participation in corporate
social responsibility initiatives and ensuring the integration of
the company's long-term goals into its strategy as ways of
forging synergy that has facilitated the company's success.
3.3.3 Features Characterizing operational efficiency
implementation
The study has sought to establish the aspects that denoted
operational excellence strategies implemented at the
McDonald’s. Based on the findings, the interviewed top
management members pointed out different features denoting
that operational excellence was being implemented at
McDonald's as part of its strategy. In this regard, the identified
features included results-driven operations, constant
improvement in products and service, empowerment of staff,
delivering customer value through customized menus and
effective service delivery, focus on financial excellence, and
integration of technological innovations into the company’s
operations as a way of attaining efficiency. Through

coordinated decision-making and optimizing service delivery,
McDonald's has remained competitive in the market and this has
been attributed to the adoption of operation excellence
strategies in order to realize a competitive edge over rivals.
3.3.4 The Extent to Which McDonald’s has recruited expertise
to facilitate operational excellence implementation
The respondents were interviewed with regard to which they
considered the company to have implemented sustainable
operational experience as part of the organizational strategy.
Based on the responses, finding indicated that the fast-food
chain had to a large extent recruited the relevant professionals
to assist the firm in leveraging on operational excellence as part
of its organizational strategy. Mainly, this was attributed to the
recruitment of highly trained and experienced staff with a
positive attitude to help make a positive contribution to the
company towards the realization of its strategic goals. The
ability of a company to compete effectively in the marketplace
is largely based on its ability to integrate operational excellence
as part of its collective strategy. The approach is particularly
important in the achievement of competitiveness in the
marketplace and building a sustainable business that will thrive
irrespective of the intense market competition it will encounter.
3.4 Discussion and Findings
The study has established that McDonald's has implemented a
wide range of operational excellence approaches that have
enabled the firm to remain competitive in the market in order to
enhance service delivery and product innovation. This indicates
that the management at McDonald's has been keen on
implementing operational excellence standards to enable the
firm to remain competitive. These findings are in line with
those of Carvalho et al. (2017) who established that
implementing operational excellence in the form of Six Sigma
facilitates an enterprise to conduct continuous improvement of

all its operational areas to achieve both financial and
nonfinancial performance. Operational excellence has been
noted to play a strategic role in effective decision making,
facilitating sound investment decisions, and ensuring that the
company remains profitable with low employee turnover.
McDonald's high market share and competitiveness in the
industry has been attributed to its operational excellence
strategies that have enabled the firm to conduct continuous
improvement of its operations and products to not only meet the
demands of the clients but also build a solid business network
that is renowned for its quality products and efficient service.
Again, the findings of the research show that McDonald’s has
been implementing a number of operational standards such
employee development and inclusion, emphasis on continuous
improvements, efficiency in delivery, visionary leadership and
building of partnerships as part of its strategy as defined in its
strategic goals. The strategies have been effective in achieving
customer engagement and ensuring all stakeholders are aware of
the company's strategic goal in order to make a positive
contribution to the company and success as well. Largely, the
findings regarding the operational stands implemented by
McDonald's based on the research coincide with the findings of
Belekoukias, Garza-Reyes, and Kumar (2014), who noted the
importance of lean operations in maximizing company profits
and providing customers the right value so that they remain
loyal to the business. Through the implementation of these
strategies, McDonald’s will continue to remain competitive and
control a large market share in the fast food industry.
4.0 Conclusion and Recommendations
The study has established that McDonalds’s has to a great
extent put into place operational excellence strategies that have
enabled the company to attain a competitive edge in the fast
food industry through effective customer service delivery and
continuous enhancement of its operations. Mainly, this implies
that the company has been keen on implementing operational

excellence standards with the goal of enhancing the company's
operations. The operational strategies that McDonald's has been
implementing have been centered on employees’ development
and engagement, continuous learning and innovation, focus on
customer satisfaction and putting into pace efficient service
delivery systems.
Recommendations have been put forward for McDonald to
replicate the operational excellence standards across its fast-
food network across the globe as a way of realizing competitive
advantage. In the wake of new market entrants joining the fast
food industry and existing companies implementing operational
excellence standards, McDonald’s can only thrive amidst the
competitive environment if they integrate operational
excellence into their overall strategy. In effect, the company
needs to formulate effective policies that ensure that are in line
with operational excellence in all their processes to promote its
brand across the globe.
References
Belekoukias, I., Garza-Reyes, J. A., & Kumar, V. (2014). The
impact of lean methods and tools on the operational
performance of manufacturing organizations. International
Journal of Production Research, 52(18), 5346-5366.
Carvalho, A. M., Sampaio, P., Rebentisch, E., Carvalho, J. Á.,
& Saraiva, P. (2017). Operational excellence, organizational
culture and agility: the missing link?. Total Quality
Management & Business Excellence, 1-20.
Costas, J., Ponte, B., de la Fuente, D., Pino, R., & Puche, J.
(2015). Applying Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints to reduce the
Bullwhip Effect through agent-based modeling. Expert Systems
with Applications, 42(4), 2049-2060.
Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research. Sage.

Oakland, J. S. (2014). Total quality management and
operational excellence: text with cases. Routledge.

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