WHAT WE CAN LEARN It Is Possible to Have strong and Enduring Growth without Diversification For more than four decades, since 1955, McDonald's had grown continuously and substantially In all this time, the product was essentially the hamburger in its various trappings and accompaniments. Almost all other firms in their quest for growth have diversified, sometimes wisely and synergistically, at other times imprudently and even recklessly be For such undeviating focus, the product should have universal appeal frequently consumed, and have almost unlimited potential The hamburger probably meets these criteria better than practically any other product, along with beer, soft drinks, coffee, and tobacco. And soft drinks, of course, are natural accompaniment of the hamburger continued Eventually, even the hamburger began to fall short in providing strong growth as the international market reached saturation and the domestic market over saturation. McDonald's may be forced to seek judicious diversification or lose the growth mode. There is risk: Firms in pursuit of growth often jump into acquisitions far too hastily and are faced with massive debt and overhead. And many of McDonald's past food service diversification did not met their expectations. Will the menu diversification into upscale coffee drinks a la Starbucks meet the optimistic expectations?