McDonald’s Organizational Structure
McDonald’s organizational structure can be classified as divisional. McDonald’s business operations are divided into the following four divisions according to their geographical location:
- United States
- Europe
- Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (“APMEA”)
- Other countries
Each division above possesses its own departments such as IT, finance, marketing and others. Massive changes in McDonald’s organizational structure introduced in 2015 increased the emphasis on the international markets clarifying the roles of executives responsible for growth in international markets. Specifically, as it is illustrated in Figure 1 below, the responsibility for overseeing international operations is distributed among three senior executives at President level.
Figure 1 McDonald’s leadership structure in international markets[1]
Presidents are provided autonomy in decision making to a great extent to increase sales in their respective markets. The autonomy refers to adjusting the content and delivery McDonald’s marketing message to their respective markets taking into account cross-cultural differences. Moreover, Presidents are free to introduce new items in menu reflecting tastes and preferences of local markets.
Furthermore, from administrative point of view McDonald’s organizational structure involves nine senior level managers reporting to President and CEO Chris Kempczinski. These managers include Vice President and Executive Vice Presidents and each manager is responsible for a specific strategic aspect of the business.
Figure 2 McDonald’s organizational structure
Since becoming President and CEO in 2019 Mr. Chris Kempczinski did not introduce any massive changes in McDonald’s corporate structure. However, he may restructure the business to a certain extent to reflect changes in the external environment. Specifically, COVID 19 pandemic revealed the importance of delivery and McDonald’s may change its corporate structure to ensure greater focus on making deliveries to homes and offices.
McDonald’s Corporation Report contains the above analysis of McDonald’s organizational structure. The report illustrates the application of the major analytical strategic frameworks in business studies such as SWOT, PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, Value Chain analysis, Ansoff Matrix and McKinsey 7S Model on McDonald’s. Moreover, the report contains analyses of McDonald’s leadership, business strategy and organizational culture. The report also comprises discussions of McDonald’s marketing strategy, ecosystem and addresses issues of corporate social responsibility.
