theceomagazine.com | 47BRAND NAME POWER
It would be difficult to overstate the power
of the McDonald’s brand name. Worldwide, it
has been valued at US$97 billion. “The name
has very strong equity and that alone is a big
differentiator,” Prince Mishaal acknowledges.
“We also benefit from the strong support we
get from the global corporation. That is one
of our major strengths, and, as local
franchisees, we are privileged to have a high
level of involvement from the McDonald’s
global team in every aspect of our business.
In a lot of franchises, the involvement of the
global brand in a local franchise is minimal.
As one of the world’s largest private
employers, the McDonald’s global company
has a wealth of knowledge that it can pass
on, a particularly valuable asset in a nation
where people are overwhelmingly employed
by the government. “That relationship really
helps us implement strategies in the right
way, and to minimise our risk and our
mistakes,” Prince Mishaal explains. “We learn
from the best practice of the global company,
but also from the global failures. We learned
the right development strategy and
committed ourselves to following it.”
One important takeaway from the global
corporation was procuring prime real estate
for each outlet and prioritising the
establishment of what McDonald’s terms
‘gold standard’, freestanding restaurants.
More than 75 per cent of the outlets under
Prince Mishaal’s watch meet this definition.
“The gold standard restaurants have all the
components necessary to give the full
experience to customers,” Prince Mishaal
explains. “Having those facilities has been
a crucial contributor to our success.”A COMMITMENT
TO COMMUNITY
McDonald’s Saudi Arabia has its own social
responsibility platform called Ajyalona. It is
named after an Arabic word meaning ‘our
generation’ and concentrates on three key
areas: humanitarian causes, advocating for
healthy youth lifestyles, and the
nationalisation of the Saudi workforce.
“We’re very proud of our involvement
and the support we’ve given many local
charities over the past 24 years,” Prince
Mishaal says. “We are one of the very few
brands that take social responsibility as part of
our DNA. Giving back to our community is
an essential part of the way we operate and
do our everyday business.”
A particular focus recently has been
orphans and children with disabilities or
special needs. Last year, the company
collected more than 1.6 million riyals, »