Which one of the three generic business strategies does McDonald's use?
Generic business strategies used at McDonald's is the differentiate strategy. McDonald's differentiate their services and products from their competitors because; at McDonald's there are many services that are provided for the consumers. Depending on the location of the store and the franchise owner behind it, at a typical McDonald's once can find the following drive thru, lobby, restroom, Breakfast menu, Lunch menu , and someone who is capable of speaking Spanish. McDonald's also provide service such as Wi-Fi; today in over 14,000 restaurants obtain free Wi-Fi service for the customers. This allows customers to enjoy their meal while working. “Company officials hope free Wi-Fi will help draw customer to visit a local restaurant during less crowded times, and will purchase McCafe coffee drinks or regular meals—value in our food, value in our services (www.dailytech.com).” McDonald's has successfully used a differentiated market segmentation strategy by targeting the family unit and particularly children with their “Happy Meal” and price (ivythesis.typepad.com).” “McDonald’s mostly target on children as audience, their commercials most of the time multiple audience specifically families (ivythesis.typepad.com).”

How does McDonald's utilize the Porter's Five Method?
McDonald's buyer power is high because there are several fast food restaurants that consumers can choose from. The supplier power is high because a majority of the products can be purchased from different suppliers. The Threat of substitute products or services is low because their recipes are unique to their band however there are other restaurants that offer burgers, fires, and shakes. Threat of new entrants is high because there are always new restaurants that open offering burgers and fries. And the Threat of competition is high because there are other types of fast food restaurants to eat from that offers some of the key menu items that McDonald's offers like the Dollar Menu.

The buyer and supplier power can be reduced by offering a specific type of product at a competitive price that the competitors does not offer, for instance the yogurt parfait.

McDonald's handles switching cost and entry barriers by providing good, quality products that are given at competitive prices to their customers, with excellent service. As well as offering unique menu items like the Yogurt Parfait or by providing free Wi-Fi service to their customers. By providing these values it encourages customer loyalty to the McDonald's brand and makes it harder for new businesses to open within the fast food industry.

What major business initiatives are used or being considered with McDonald's?

The major business initiatives that are being used is A customer relationship management (CRM) system.
* The software that is being use is the CRM System Infrastructure...which gathers data and sends all the information to McDonald's database for instance a lot of people are more health conscious these days in that they want to eat more health. In lieu, of that McDonald's has added salads and other lighter options into their menu. If a mother comes in, she is not only buy the happy meal for her children, she will also be likely to buy herself a meal too .the lighter options also encourage existing customers to come back more often, because there is a greater variety of choices.
*It’s a top-line initiative, because the aforementioned process will bring back the customers who loves the taste of McDonald's but who also is concern about their health...in addition, it will bring new customers to McDonald's base on who wants to eat healthy. This as a result will increase the revenue.

What type of IT organization is used?

The McDonald's Corporation is the perfect example of a centralized IT organization structure. The centralized are early adopters of the “wait and see” philosophy in the technological field, waiting for the technology to be proven, before they decide to adopt and integrate the technology into their organization. McDonald's before investing in any new technology have to have a demonstration that there will be a significant return on investment (ROI) before they decide to adopt the technology. Being a mature company in the fast food industry, McDonald's does not need to look for significant growth because there is little possibility of increasing their market share.