McDonald’s have had a strategy called “Plan to Win” since 2003. This plan to win in the industry have so far caused McDonald’s to have 32 consecutive months of global comparative positive sales, which is the longest streak in the last 25 years (MacDonalds 2005 annual report p. 2).

Furthermore they have had a growth which in general lies above the industry average growth.

But what is the “Plan to Win”? The five P’s that are behind the Plan to Win are: People, Place, Product, Price, and Promotion.

The five P’s are trying to perceive every thinkable angle of the company, and have ways to improve everything, from refurbishing old shops, to providing wi-fi for customers, setting the right mood with music and creating deli menus to cope with the bad publicity.

Promotion	Products
- “im loving it” world wide campaign - Billboards, internet, TV, all advertising in general	- Broaden the selections - McDonald’s Food Studios - Superior supplier practices - High product standards - McCafe - Examples: Rice burger, fruit and walnut salad
Price
- high quality food at a reasonable price - Value menus - Premium selections
Place	People
- Refurbishing stores - New music - Wi-fi - Flatscreens	- Developed training and hospitality programs to teach our people the skills they need to deliver great service - Computer based training - Restaurant Operations Improvement Process (ROIP)

Their main efforts is in the direction of maintaining their unique brand power, and creating extra added value through the experience to preserve and develop their market shares in America.

Their newest mayor addition to their product line is the McCafe. The McCafe has a target audience of those who would like something else than regular soft drinks or maybe only wants coffee.

With this new strategy and product line they are trying to get a hold of market shares in the specialty coffee industry, mainly controlled by Starbucks. It is a bold strategy; where they have a minimum of experience, but nevertheless it is a strategy that is backed up by a lot of their strengths . They already have a global network of suppliers and one of the most powerful brands in the world. Furthermore and most important, their brand and chain is represented in more countries than StarBucks Thereby they have an actual chance of having first mover’s advantages in most countries, and in those they do not, then their network of QSR’s are larger than StarBucks.

Their marketing have focused on two separate things; first, coping with the effects of the obesity through marketing and a new healthier product category, second, increasing brand awareness to maintain and develop market shares.

When looking on the outcome of McDonald’s implemented strategies the last couple of years, then the financial data speaks a language of its own. The development of revenues being above market development means that they are increasing their market shares. When looking on their gross profit margins, then since the implementation of “Plan to Win” have increased the margin with more than 40%.

Furthermore an increase in total revenues of more than 5 billion or 33% from 2002 till 2005 have caused their stock prices to rise from having a value of 25 to 42 dollars in that same period.

This shows that McDonalds so far have the right strengths and strategies to outmanoeuvre any obesity-issues. 

In the future, McDonald’s would have to look into their core products. As changing demands and regulations from customers and governments appear, then McDonald’s would have a big advantage of being proactive on these matters. At the moment they were some of the slowest in the industry to get rid of their trans fat for making French fries, which sends out a bad signal on not caring about their customers. On all of the health issues they seem to have a very re-active manner, still not precisely knowing what to do with the issue. If they were to change and extend their research of these areas, the sheer size and resources could easily give them a big push up in CSR competencies and general image compared to their competitors. But as it is at the moment, their research is somewhat of a weakness, since they focus more on researching in decorations than in overall healthy meals. By this it is not meant that they should change their core products as the cheeseburger, big mac and french fries, but rather placing some resources on making the core products healthier. Thereby they would both deal with some of their weaknesses and build a defence against the threats of the future.