Custom «Fast Food Industry» Essay Paper Sample

Fast Food Industry refers to the industry producers and suppliers of food that can be prepared and served very quickly. Although the term food can be prepared in a short time, it also refers to food that is served in restaurants and stores with preheated or precooked ingredients. The food is normally served to the customer in a packaged form as a take away or take- out. In terms of type of foods served include snacks and other junk foods that normally contain a lot of fats and sugars which have harmful health consequences. Similar to other industries, the Fast food Industry is also facing challenges that fall into the non market environment. One of the major key players in the fast food industry is McDonald’s which has outlets in all parts of the world (Schlosser, 2012).

There are several issues facing the fast food industry which have found some key players in this industry in court trying to settle differences that arise from the non market environment. These challenges include the issue of quality of foods that are sold in some of the fast food dealers outlets, means of packaging, health implications associated with consuming of junk food that constitute majority of the fast food and legal issues whereby some of the companies that offer fast food are accused of not following legal requirements in different countries where they practice. Others include environmental related issues whereby most of the of restaurants that offer fast food services are accused of parking it containers and plastic bags that are an harmful to the environment and health issues whereby some restaurant providing fast foods are accused of selling stale or expired foods. For instance, McDonald’s which is a key play in fast food industry has been faced with several challenging issues that have see it have some of its outlets closed in various parts of the world. Some of the issues faced by McDonald’s include the accusations in the US that foods served by McDonald’s contributed to obesity and claims that McDonald’s was conducting unhealthy advertisements in the US .

Information distribution is another challenge that has faced most of dealers in fast food industry. This is due to lack of cooperation among the key players leading to insufficient information about their products. For instance, there is inadequate information about the health effects of the foods that are sold in most of the fast food outlets in terms of the nutritional standards. This has raised concern of the other parties from the non market environment who feel that there is inadequate information about the players in fast food industry. In the context of McDonald’s, there has been a controversy about the information about the quality of its products and the legal rights to operates in some countries. This has forced to disclose more about their products to the public such as the fat content in some of its foods. Another big challenge facing the industry is sudden increase of the organizations interested on the operations in fast food industry. For instance, in the case of McDonald’s, organizations that are concerned with how it operates include health organization, governments of states where it operates, children welfare organizations and consumer protection organizations. Lastly, there are several institutions that are concern with the operations in fast food industry such as the as the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and other institutions that regulate how operations in the industry are conducted. In the case of McDonald’s, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration have been concerned on how the restaurant addresses the issue of food safety and environmental protection (Trumbull, 2006).

What are the similarities and differences in the way Johnson & Johnson dealt with the crisis and Exxon with the Exxon Valdez crisis?

Johnson & Johnson and Exxon are good examples of how company can either respond well or badly to the Non market environment. Johnson & Johnsons and Exxon were involved in severe crisis that involved their products. Johnson& Johnson was involved in the Tylenol tampering and poising crisis while on the other hand Exxon was involved in Valdez oil spill in Alaska. The only similarity in the way these two companies dealt with their crisis is that they did not send their top management into the volatile crisis scene immediately after accident. This was wise for both companies because physical presence of the company management was not a solution to the crisis and this could them unavailable to their companies when they needed them most (Trumbull, 2006).

However, in terms of response to the crisis, Johnson and Johnson were faster than Exxon. Johnson and Johns was prompt to respond to the crisis and this made it to become one of the respected companies in the world. On the other hand, Exxon failed to respond to its oil spillage crisis in Alaska and this made it one of the most despised companies in the world thereby losing millions of dollars after losing consumers. Johnson and Johns send qualified professions to manage the crisis and they stopped consumer usage of it products until the crisis was over and this was applauded globally by consumers (Baron, 2009). Exxon on the other hand took very long time to respond to the crisis that the company had claimed to be able to handle. Unlike Johnson and Johns, Exxon failed to communication to the world and this raised mixed issues. Lastly, it was concluded that Exxon failed to take responsibility and on the other hand Johnson and Johnson was proven to have not associated with Tylenol tampering thereby taking the market by storm.

Compare the Basic premises and/or assumptions of the three antitrust schools of thought. Give specific examples the proponents of each school provide in favor of their opinions. Choose one of the schools and explain why you like it best

There are three antitrust schools of thoughts namely the Classical perspective, Neo-classical synthesis and Chicago school. The classical perspective school of antitrust is based on the premises of laissez-faire. According to this school antitrust is unnecessary since competition is a long term and broad process where firms compete with each other. They believe that government and other consumer protection agencies should not interfere because monopoly is eventually ended through the process known as creative destruction. Another antitrust school of thought is the neoclassical synthesis. According to this theory, social welfare is maximized when there is production and distribution of goods and services in a free market competition. According to the proponents of this school, new firms are free to enter into the market with the existing one. The third antitrust school is the Chicago school. The school is made up of economists and lawyers associated with the University of Chicago. The school advocates an approach to competition that is guided by law whereby actions that were considered to be anticompetitive are believed to promote competition. I do believe the Chicago school of antitrust is the best since it provides for changes in market and consumer needs. Market is not the same all through and allowing competition to fully determine the market trend could be harmful to some players and consumers. It is therefore important to have laws that regulate market competition.

Discuss, analyze and critique the politics of products liability.

Product Liability is one of the policies that are intended to protect consumers. The policy requires producers and suppliers to be liable of any deformity in their products that causes harm to the consumer. For instance, if producer supplies goods that do not meet the expectations of the consumer and in the process the consumer incur a loss, producers are required to compensate the consumer. However, it is worth noting that product liability policies have faced severe challenges in many countries and the worst of all is politics. Producers have teamed up with politicians in their countries to politicize the process of product liability policy making. Analysts point out that this is a strategy by producers and manufactures to protect themselves from consumer protection laws (Baron, 2009).

Reports show that passing of Product Liability Reform Act of 1998 in the US was delayed as result of politics. Senators are believed to have been mobilized by producers to delay the process by raising unrelated issues. The impact of politics to product liability has great effects to consumers and producers (Trumbull, 2006).Many consumer protection policies have weakened by business interests and other bureaucrats who have connived with politicians to protect their own interests. As much as this is a strategy by producers and manufacturers to protect themselves from consumers, politicians should be not be allowed to mingle with consumer protection policies so that they can be implementable and successful after they are developed.