introduction
Project management theory is a master of the application of systematic thinking. Therefore, the development of project management theory can be used as a coordinate for the development of systematic thinking.
Project management theory has three major stages: traditional project management, agile project management and strategic project management. Correspondingly, we can also divide the ranks of systematic thinking into three levels: overall thinking, agile thinking, and strategic thinking.
The following article introduces the three levels of systemic thinking based on McDonald's entrepreneurial history.
one,
The two brothers Dick McDonald's and Mike McDonald's founded the "Dick and Mac McDonald" restaurant in San Bernardino, California in the 1940s, which is the prototype of the McDonald's restaurant.
At the beginning, Dick and Mike’s restaurant was basically the same as other popular car restaurants at the time: 27 dishes were offered, and the uniform waitress delivered the food to the customer’s car. But after doing it for a while, they found that sales had stagnated.
At this time, Dick and Mike's company has advanced to the first level of systematic thinking : Solving business problems with overall thinking .
They began to analyze the reasons for the stagnant sales and found that the car restaurant model inherently has some flaws:
Problems with customer positioning will attract less-than-ideal customer groups, such as problematic teenagers, gangsters, and hooligans to provide services. It takes a long time for customers to wait for food, and they often deliver wrong meals and operating expenses. , A large number of wages are paid to a large number of employees, and the tableware is constantly broken or stolen
So how can the problem be solved? Dick discovered by accident in one day that their best-selling dishes were burgers, french fries and soft drinks, accounting for 87%. They found a way to solve the problem: focus, streamline, systematic analysis and reconstruction .
They focus on selling best-selling products and stop selling small-selling dishes; cancel the food delivery staff in the parking space and let the customers walk to the window to pick up their own food; cancel the dinner trays and use disposable paper packaging; cancel the cigarette vending machine and automatic Jukeboxes and other equipment oriented to the low-level living groups establish a family-oriented dining environment.
Then, they started to solve the biggest problem, the problem of meal time, they took 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes to complete the order.
They split all the details, redistribute, rebuild, and rethink all links. Draw your own kitchen on the tennis court, and re-lay out functional areas and configure equipment based on the new production process concept. And bring all the employees to the tennis court, let the employees simulate the operation at work, redefine the operation specifications, and design the operation procedures and guidelines just like choreographing a dance. After many times of tearing down, rebuilding, and rehearsing, the kitchen blueprint was finally determined and delivered to the builder to build the kitchen as a whole according to their requirements. The world's first fast food production line was born.
two,
Ray Kroc, a milkshake mixer salesman, saw the business opportunity, and after persistent efforts, he finally obtained the franchise from the McDonald's brothers.
Ray Kroc has a keen business sense, ample energy and perseverance, and he is born with the second rank of systematic thinking : embrace change with agile thinking .
He has produced and sold a variety of novel items such as wax cups, folders, and multi-purpose mixers, and has since stepped into the life of affluent middle-class communities.
When he found the McDonald’s restaurant, he even thought more deeply and farther than the McDonald’s brothers, thinking that the golden arch of McDonald’s should be like the cross on the top of the church and the flag on the top of the court, representing this restaurant, this building, where people gather. , Decent and healthy people gather together to enjoy the values under the protection of the American flag; McDonald’s restaurant not only has burgers in it, it represents the family, the community, and is the place where Americans gather to eat bread. It will become a new generation of American churches, providing for people's bodies and souls.
Due to the extremely high cost of refrigerating ice cream, it has severely suppressed the profitability of the restaurant. When a franchisee proposed to use milkshake powder instead of refrigerated ice cream, he keenly discovered that this is indeed a good way to reduce costs and reduce production time. After confirming that the taste is consistent, even if he disagrees with the McDonald’s brothers, he Still try every means to insist on spreading this improvement to all restaurants.
three,
Ray Crocker eventually took the ownership of the McDonald's brand from the McDonald's brothers and became the founder of McDonald's.
Three of the cornerstones for Ray Crocker to lay the foundation for McDonald’s, a global large-scale multinational restaurant chain, are particularly important. We can categorize them as the third level of systematic thinking : use strategic thinking to drive development .
The first one, when Ray Crocker saw the McDonald’s restaurant, the first thing he thought of was to use the franchise to span the golden arch of McDonald’s across the United States. The high-speed production system invented by the McDonald's brothers brings competitive advantages to franchise restaurant operations and provides strong support for the sale of franchise rights. The sale of franchise rights quickly expands the brand's influence and makes the development of the company full of vitality.
Second, Ray Crocker found that it is far better to find franchise partners from the hardworking people at the bottom than to find investment from the rich. The people at the bottom are not afraid of hard work, have the concept of family struggle, are aggressive, and have the dream of chasing the American dream. They can truly devote themselves to the daily operation of McDonald's restaurants, ensuring the quality control of franchise stores and maintaining the McDonald's brand.
Third, Ray Kroc and Harry Thorne met by chance. Harry Thorne gave Ray Crocker the idea of capital operation. He made Ray Crocker realize that McDonald's should not only be positioned in the Hamburg industry, but should be positioned in the real estate industry. McDonald’s purchases land and leases it to franchise partners to obtain a stable initial income stream and greater capital expansion, and then use this capital to further purchase land, and then capital expand, purchase land...and so on, to achieve rapid development of the enterprise.
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