Started as Crew (C): McDonald's Strategy for Corporate Success and Poverty Reduction

From the early 1970s to the beginning of the 21st century, multinational corporations (MNCs) had increasingly participated in the reduction of poverty as part of their business strategies. Such participation reflected an increasing awareness of the widening gap between rich and poor across the globe. McDonald’s Corporation, despite myriad criticisms directed at it about dead-end jobs and the detrimental effects of fast food, had defied norms, however. The company used a combination of promotion-from-within strategy and benchmark employee training programs to develop an abundant pool of human capital. The company was deeply committed to its employees who “started as crew” rising through the ranks, receiving the necessary training at its Hamburger University. This case details the rise of McDonald’s, its particular culture, and its emphasis on and pride in the “stared as crew” element, and illustrates these elements with stories of various employees who rose through the ranks to management and executive positions.