Changing Of The Guard

2 Pages 386 Words

The Changing of the Guard

Ever since the nineteen fifties, the McDonald’s Corporation has been well on its way to becoming the world’s top fast food restaurant, owning 33,000 restaurants world wide. But while McDonald’s is still topping off the fast food industry, it has shown a decline in profitability and production in recent years. This lack of productivity has the investment world up in arms. Both creditors and shareholders are the least bit pleased with the current situation. So on January 1, McDonald’s Corporation will make change in the CEO position.
Not only have sales declined significantly, but a loss of more than 40 billion dollars in shareholder investments was incurred under CEO Jack Greenberg. Though Greenberg has been involved in the corporation for a long time, he has been unable to restore the “fast food machine” to its original condition. While Greenberg will step down as CEO, he will remain a part of the corporation as chief executive through 2005.
To replace Greenberg, McDonald’s has chosen former vice chairman, James Cantalupo, as the new CEO. Cantalupo has been a part of the company for 28 years, and is familiar with the goals and expectations of the company; but as expressed by onlookers, this is not always a good thing.
McDonald’s has already made significant changes, including new cooking systems and the reorganization of billions of dollars. So why is the prominent fast food company slowly plundering? Maybe internal recruitment was not the best decision for the McDonald’s company.
Observers and investors alike were not pleased the company did not search externally for new talent. “Given the fact that ge was vice chairman of the company, he probably gad some say in what McDonald’s has done, and it hasn’t done well for the company,” says Bill Cottrell, manager of a large capital portfolio, who also owns 2.5 million shares in McDonald’s stock. Also Mr. Cottrell said h...