Ray Kroc by The Editors of New Word City

Author:The Editors of New Word City [The Editors of New Word City]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612307275
Publisher: New Word City, LLC
Published: 2014-02-03T16:00:00+00:00

The Management Food Chain

Ray Kroc had firm ideas about management. He wanted power to reside far down the food chain, so to speak - as close as possible to the restaurants themselves. He believed that a company’s challenges and opportunities were best understood by front-line managers who interacted with customers every day and knew what was really happening. Kroc also believed that if he valued a person enough to hire him or her, the person must be entrusted with real authority. Even if the individual made a few mistakes, Kroc assumed the individual would learn and grow, driven by a need to prove Kroc’s faith was justified. As usual, his shrewd grasp of motives and incentives was a catalyst in his company’s growth.

Kroc welcomed dissent, saying, “If a corporation has two executives who think alike, one is unnecessary.” Kroc also started to actively recruit black and female franchise owners. Although his politics tilted to the right, he was a populist at heart. He loathed snobs, understood what it meant to have to work hard to feed a family, and he believed in equal-opportunity opportunity. Many volumes have been written on Ray Kroc, none of which remotely accuse him of dishonesty, hypocrisy, or condescension. As for being tough, fierce, and unrelenting - well, that’s another matter.

McDonald’s went public in 1965 at a price of $22.50 a share. It hit $30.00 before the day was out, and $50.00 within a month. Kroc was now a wealthy man. In the next decade, outlets sprung up across the United States, then Canada, and then the world. Ray Kroc was a famous tycoon, much in demand for speeches and appearances.

In the United States, McDonald’s moved from rural areas and suburbs into cities - to downtowns, to middle-class neighborhoods, and to the inner cities. These inner-city branches were minority-owned and prided themselves on community outreach, sponsoring scholarships, and rewarding young employees who stayed in school. In fact, during the violent riots in South Central Los Angeles in 1992 that followed the acquittal of the L.A. police officers who had been videotaped beating an unarmed Rodney King, McDonald’s restaurants were spared while stores and buildings around them were torched. This was a powerful testament to the respect and affection the company had earned in the African-American community.

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