Steve Easterbrook (Easterbrook) took over as CEO of McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) from Don Thompson (Thompson) at the beginning of 2015. This change came at a time when MCD was going through a challenging time. The company was facing challenges on multiple fronts including menu management, quality issues, and new products not delivering sales as anticipated. On the international front, MCD was facing hurdles from regulators in Russia and China. Easterbrook was known for achieving a turnaround of MCD in the United Kingdom and investors and markets were hoping for a major turnaround in MCD in US markets. The case brings to light the performance of MCD in a couple of years, giving scope for discussion on the challenges facing MCD both internally and from external competitors and the reasons for the failure of its new products. The case also attempts to bring in the leadership roles of both Thompson and Easterbrook.

As a strategic manager assigned to assist the company inrevamping its current situation, you are required to address the following two areas of concern:

Question 

(a) Identify at least (three) key areas that you would need to first examine/assess before you begin the repositioning process.

(b) Justify your selection (of the three key areas) by providing arguments that will support your stance and state the important role that these components play for a company to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.