Merger, Acquisitions, and International Strategies:

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Running head: Merger, Acquisitions, and International Strategies1Merger, Acquisitions, and International Strategies:NameInstructor:University:Date:Evaluate the strategic approaches used by McDonald's Corporation in its acquisition of BostonMarket and the impact this had on its overall success. Based on this analysis, propose potentialbusiness-level and corporate-level strategies that Sonic Corporation could implement toeffectively expand internationally, including recommendations for possible acquisitions ormergers.Your answer should include a discussion of key concepts such as mergers and acquisitions,international business strategies, cost leadership, and differentiation. You should also incorporatelessons learned from McDonald's experience and how Sonic Corporation can apply theseinsights to foster growth.Word count requirement: 1,500-2,000 words.

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Merger, Acquisitions, and International Strategies2One of the greatest indicators of the success or failure of a corporation is their abilityto acquire/merge or to be acquired/merged. Companies have been able to maximize their profitsby merging or acquiring other businesses within their industry, which has many benefits thatextend past dollars and cents. Corporations who are able to acquire or merge with othercompanies are able to expand upon their ability to forge partnerships with other corporateleaders. They are often able to expand their services internationally to gain more profits andextend their brand. Corporations, such as McDonald's Corporation, have been able to benefitfrom acquisitions in ways that corporations, such as Sonic Corporation, have not. Through theevaluation of the strategies that were utilized by McDonald's Corporation to acquire BostonMarket, its impact on the corporation, and its international business-level and corporate-levelstrategies, one can better understand strategies that Sonic Corporation could develop to increasetheir profits through acquisitions and mergers, as well as business-level and corporate-levelstrategies they can develop to expand their services internationally.McDonald's Corporation has enjoyed great success as one of the largest food-serviceretailing chains in the world, with 30,000 restaurants that “operate in more than 100 countries onsix continents (Funding Universe, 2012).” Founded in San Bernardino, CA in 1948, McDonald'sCorporation has evolved from a small burger joint making hamburgers that sold for 15 cents to arestaurant empire with system-wide sales that has climbed to $40 billion (Funding Universe,2012). The corporation had experienced a quick expansion in their sales from the 90's to 2000,and used other acquisitions, such as Donatos Pizzeria and Chipotle Mexican Grille Chain toincrease their resource and generate larger profits for the corporation (Funding Universe, 2012).

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Merger, Acquisitions, and International Strategies3McDonald's sought to continue its success by capitalizing upon this with the acquisitionof Boston Market Corporation in 2000 (QSR, 2000). Boston Market Corporation filed forChapter 11 Bankruptcy in 1998, and was slowly recovering from the lack of sales through thesale of Boston Market Home Style Meals in grocery stores across the United States (BostonMarket Corporation, 2012). McDonald's saw an opportunity to use their resources to increasetheir profits as well as the success of the Boston Market brand (QSR, 2000). At the time ofacquisition, Boston Market still retained 850 outlets and the corporation generated a revenue of$670 million, proving to be a wise acquisition for McDonald's at the time (Funding Universe,2012). Though McDonald's experienced success with Boston Market Corporation as anacquisition, McDonald's was unable to make the profits that they anticipated (Funding Universe,2012).McDonald's Made for You system, which provided customers with customized sandwiches,increased the quality of the food that was served, however it also increased the service time andbecame labor intensive (Funding Universe, 2012). This helped to decrease sales, and McDonald'sexperienced more problems when it was discovered that the corporation was adding beef extractto the vegetable oil used to cook the fries, despite the fact that it had been advertised thatMcDonald's used 100% vegetable oil (Funding Universe, 2012). With litigation mounting fromthe deception, McDonald's lost more business because they became pegged as an unhealthyrestaurant, which caused them to restructure their menu to reflect a more health-consciousconsumer population (Funding Universe, 2012; Wyatt, 2012). McDonald's was forced todownsize Chipotle Mexican Grille and Donatos Pizzeria in an effort to focus their efforts onsecuring the international success of the restaurant (Funding Universe, 2012).

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