Ray Kroc Case Study

The founder is a true story based on McDonalds and how a salesman who was head of sales in Illinois named Ray Kroc, who was struggling sales businessman who was trying to sell milkshake machines to other drive in restaurants. On one if his many business trips Ray met with the founder of the original McDonalds, Mac and Dick, they brother’s mac and Dick had ordered 8 milkshake machines from Ray so therefore Ray traveled to the McDonalds store owned by the brothers. Ray Kroc was moved by what Mac and Dick had created and was interested in the speedy system, the wait in line queues and the family environment that has been created because of McDonalds. Ray then decided that it could become a huge franchise and partners with the brothers and begins …show more content…
Throughout the Founder there were many situations were Ray Kroc was ethical and unethical as well as professional and unprofessional. Ethics and professionalism was shown when Mac and Dick had a contract written up to keep Ray in line and that everything Ray does it has to go through Mac and Dick to be approved (35:09), Ray was also ethical and professional when he was trying to get all the permits done and certified before building the McDonalds restaurant (39:27). What was unprofessional was that Ray didn’t properly read through the contract as he skimmed through the contract and didn’t get a lawyer to go through it. Another unprofessional act was that Ray called his restaurant that he opened the first ever McDonalds and taking the brothers idea as his own like with the golden arches (36:00 – 36:40). What was unethical from a franchisee was that the outside of the restaurant was dirty, there was loud music playing and other food was added onto the menu as well as adding lettuce to the burger although the burger is not supposed to have lettuce and this shows that the franchisees are not following the contract that they had signed which is very unprofessional (47:50). Ray was behind on payment and that was unethical doing on his and …show more content…
The brothers also showed management skills by making the decision to do a mockup of the kitchen to make sure there is enough space and so the speedy system and work efficiently. Leadership is also a skill that stood out as Ray took the stand and go to the brothers saying he want to help them become a franchise and he motivates the brothers and enables trust so the brothers and Ray can become partners and create a franchise together. In the Founder there were many unethical acts compared to ethical acts and the same goes for professionalism, one example of unethical behavior was that some franchisees were not following what they were told what McDonalds is and was doing other things to the restaurant without consulting someone before they do it, I suggest that Ray and the brothers should have written up a code of ethics to make sure that the franchisees are ethical and for their restaurant to be ethical. Conflict was a huge part of the Founder as there was always conflict between Ray and Dick as they could never compromise and try new things because Dick was against