麦当劳无往不利的奥秘（下）

让销售额飞

    在斯金纳的领导下，麦当劳取得了巨大的成功，目前能对其构成挑战的对手屈指可数，比如沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）。如何才能让一个庞大的商业帝国实现持续增长呢？在118个国家（波斯尼亚刚刚成为其中一员）的麦当劳餐厅里，每天用餐的人数达到6,400万人，为麦当劳带来的收入甚至超过了星巴克（Starbucks）、肯德基（KFC）、必胜客（Pizza Hut）和塔可钟（Taco Bell）的收入总额。市场调查公司Technomic的调查数据显示，从2008年到2010年，在美国快餐与快速休闲餐饮行业总体销售额增长量中，麦当劳所占比例高达90%。在过去99个月中，公司的同店销售额每个月都在增加。而要想让这些数字逐年持续增长，则更加困难。

    快餐业本是周期性行业，这就使得麦当劳的销售数据更引人注目。但斯金纳却认为，麦当劳不会随着季节或经济动荡而出现大幅度的上升或下跌。他经常告诉股东和分析人士，经济低迷时，消费者确实会降级消费，但这并不是麦当劳成功的决定因素；他说，即便消费者的钱包鼓起来，他们依然会到麦当劳消费。

    为了刺激顾客的消费额度，提高他们消费频率，斯金纳带领麦当劳致力于建立快餐行业所谓的“平台”，而不是昙花一现的产品。【比如：鸡肉是平台；麦乐鸡（McNuggets）是产品。】饮品平台麦咖啡（McCafé）是麦当劳在过去35年中规模最大的一次产品上线，其中包括咖啡和冰沙，能为每家连锁店增加125,000美元的销售额。麦当劳已经彻底放弃了过去那些失败的产品【有没有尝过豪华瘦身汉堡（McLean）与招牌汉堡（Arch Deluxe）？】，并在开发新产品方面赢得了消费者的认可，这些新产品是十年前的消费者闻所未闻的，比如燕麦粥。麦当劳餐厅遍布世界各地，这更有利于在全球范围内共享优秀的商业创意。麦咖啡便是源自澳大利亚，而且，另外一款澳洲主食Chicken McBites目前正在美国进行试卖。

    尽管麦当劳菜单上有100多种产品，但斯金纳比公司任何人都明白，麦当劳的根本还在于汉堡。在二十世纪九十年代末和本世纪初，麦当劳开始收购多家公司的股份，比如墨西哥连锁餐厅Chipotle。这些投资虽然使公司愈加多样化，但它们对公司收入的贡献率基本可以忽略不计。斯金纳成为麦当劳CEO后，便把它们全部卖掉，保证公司对核心竞争力的关注。前高管埃内坎表示：“汉堡做好了，就觉得自己也可以做做披萨或者汽车租赁，或者开IT公司或销售专有技术。”麦当劳就曾犯过这样的错误——公司曾在瑞士开设了多家金拱门酒店（Golden Arch hotels）。“吉姆总是要求我们回到同一个问题。‘这些对汉堡业务会产生什么影响？会起到促进作用吗？如果没有什么用，那就别再提它了。’”

    现在，麦当劳在产品决策上比以往任何时候都要出色，这是斯金纳规章制度成功的一个佐证。每一款能摆上消费者餐桌的新产品都需要强有力的商业实证做支撑，需要检验它们的盈利能力，需要投入的资本，以及如何在全国推广。麦当劳大约有40款产品正在筹备当中，其中一些产品，比如安格斯汉堡（Angus Burger）可能要在4年之后才能上市。符合公司商业实证要求的产品有90%的机会在全国推出。在测试阶段，公司甚至会尝试不同的价位，来确保新产品既能够增加销售额，又不会拖成熟产品的后腿。

Keeping the streak going

    Under Skinner, McDonald's has become so successful that it now has a challenge only a few companies, such as Wal-Mart (WMT), face. How do you continue to grow a behemoth? Every day 64 million people in 118 countries (Bosnia was just added to the list) eat at its restaurants, which generate revenue that trumps Starbucks (SBUX), KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell (YUM) combined. From 2008 through 2010, McDonald's was responsible for 90% of the sales growth of the U.S. fast-food and fast-casual industry, according to research firm Technomic. Every month that the company ups its same-store-sales figures, which it has done for the past 99, the harder it is to lap its numbers year to year.

    The fact that fast food is a somewhat cyclical business makes McDonald's sales streak all the more impressive. But Skinner doesn't think McDonald's should experience serious ups and downs based on seasons or swings in the economy. He's constantly telling shareholders and analysts that the company's success doesn't hinge on consumers trading down when times are tough; when customers have more to spend, they'll spend it at McDonald's, he says.

    To entice consumers to buy more -- and more often -- McDonald's under Skinner has pursued what the fast-food industry calls "platforms" rather than one-hit wonders. (Chicken is a platform; McNuggets are the product.) McCafé, McDonald's beverage platform featuring coffee drinks and smoothies, has added about $125,000 in sales per store and is the company's biggest launch in 35 years. As McDonald's has put its major flops of the past far behind (ever try the McLean or the Arch Deluxe?), the company has gained permission from consumers to branch out into products you'd never expect to see on the menu board a decade ago -- oatmeal, for example. Geographical divisions have even gotten better at sharing ideas around the globe. McCafé originated in Australia, and now Chicken McBites, another Aussie staple, is being tested in the U.S.

    Despite having more than 100 items on the menu, Skinner, perhaps more than anyone else at McDonald's, has never lost sight of the fact that the company's roots go back to the burger business. In the late 1990s and early 2000s McDonald's started acquiring stakes in brands like Chipotle (CMG). Those investments diversified the company but barely caused a blip in earnings. When Skinner became CEO, he sold them all off in their entirety in order to keep the focus on the core. "Because you're good with hamburgers, you think you can do pizzas or rental cars or an IT business or sell your know-how," says former executive Hennequin. McDonald's has been guilty of this too -- it once opened Golden Arch hotels in Switzerland. "Jim is always the guy that takes us back to 'What difference is this going to make for the hamburger business? Is that going to help? If that's not going to help, forget it.'"

    Today McDonald's is better than ever at figuring out what will or won't work on the menu board, a testament to the discipline Skinner has instituted. Every new item that ends up on customers' trays has to have a strong business case that examines its profitability, the capital it requires, and how it can be built out nationally. McDonald's has about 40 products at different stages in the pipeline, and some, like the Angus Burger, can take over four years to hit the market. Products that meet the company's business-case requirements have a 90% chance of going national. During the testing phase, the company may even try out different prices by market to ensure a new launch is adding incremental sales rather than stealing share from an existing item.