Motorola

DESCRIPTION

Motorola is continuing its drive down the information superhighway, but with a slimmer load and a new driver at the wheel. The company's reorganization has continued after the highly publicized spin-off of its semiconductor unit. Its remaining operations have been focused on four business segments: connected home solutions; government and enterprise mobility solutions; mobile devices; and networks. Motorola is the #2 manufacturer of wireless handsets after global leader Nokia. The company also is a leading supplier of such wireless infrastructure equipment as cellular transmission base stations, amplifiers, and servers.RETURN

Mcdonalds

DESCRIPTION

Fast-food and quick service restaurants account for more than a third of the total dining industry, about $170 billion in 2006. Yet, that number does little to illustrate the true present condition of this sector: fast-food is perhaps the most competitive and saturated market today, with the huge industry leaders dueling over narrow profit margins. Sandwich and hamburger shops, including McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's, are the largest sector of this market. Other types of quick service restaurants include pizza (Papa John's, Domino's, Pizza Hut); chicken (KFC, Chick-fil-A); and Mexican food (Taco Bell, Del Taco). This sector faces a manifold uphill climb. The present media focus on obesity and its health concerns has led several chains to alter their high-profile menu selections (witness, for example, the swift demise of the phrase "super-size" at McDonald's and the added menu variety), yet such rapid rebranding can often lead to consumer confusion and disloyalty. After two high-profile (and subsequently dismissed) obesity lawsuits against the McDonald's chain, the "Cheeseburger Bill" was passed in March 2004, preventing consumers from suing restaurants for obesity charges. Also, fast-food companies have continued to hire, but employee retention for these so-called 'McJobs' remains a top operator concern. Competition continues to intensify throughout this vast and divided market, as its need for growth now extends to later operating hours as well as expanding internationally. Adding to the competitive fray is a trend toward "quick casual" restaurants that offer the convenience of fast-food while improving the choices on the menu. Want a custom-made burrito, go to Chipotle. How about a chicken salad sandwich better than your grandma's? Give Panera Bread a try. These and other quick-casual food chains are among the fastest growing restaurants in the US. Fast-food and quick service restaurants are used as barometers of modern health, sociology, science, real estate, and irony - to name but a few. It is now challenging to believe this market could have once embodied the imagination and sincere idealism evidenced in this quote from Ray Kroc's 1976 book Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's: "Consider, for example, the hamburger bun. It requires a certain kind of mind to see beauty in a hamburger bun. Yet, is it any more unusual to find grace in the texture and softly curved silhouette of a bun than to reflect lovingly on the hackles of a favorite fishing fly? Or the arrangement of textures and colors in a butterfly's wing? Not if you are a McDonald's man."