Strategic Positioning is defined as doing different activities than your competitors or doing the same activities differently. This is the way your company becomes a superior performer in the industry. Many people describe their positioning based on their customer base. For example, Burger King focuses on young adult males as their target customer. There strategy and positioning is directed to satisfy this sector of the market. Wendy's on the other hand has a different positioning. They base their positioning to satisfy the older health conscious individuals. They both differ from our strategy. When you simplify things down it turns out there are only two basic types of positioning; low cost or differentiation. This is how you choose to serve your customer base, or how your customer base guides you to operate. You choose your customer base to be either broad or narrow scope. The company needs to select one or the other in both categories or they will achieve below average results and be mediocre. We have selected one and are doing it well
McDonald’s has made itself to be the family friendly low cost restaurant in the fast food business. We have a narrow scope for a customer base and a low cost strategy. In recent years we have tended to broaden our scope to appeal to more customers. In recent years due to lost sales we have started to make our menu a more healthy option. We still try to keep our target market narrowed down to families, but others deserve attention as well. We are focused on cutting delivery time and cutting the cost of food. We have the most modern and technologically advanced equipment in our restaurants to make your job easier. The computer operated machinery allows you to keep cost low by only needing a few employees to do the work of several. It also allows your employees to do it quicker. Our strategy is conveyed throughout all of our business operations. If you notice, many McDonald's have dual drive-through to decrease wait time and to increase volume of customers served. This may be a good idea for your location. We have stuck to our core market throughout the years even through the changing times. We have included playgrounds in many of the restaurants and our marketing schemes feature family friendly ads and slogans. The term happy meal is said and begged for by children worldwide and has become a house hold name. McDonald's does things differently than it’s competitors by marketing to the family market where as its competitors market to a broader base in some cases or to different generations such as Burger King marketing to young adults. McDonald's has positioned itself on the forefront of fast-food technology and sets the standards for the rest of the industry.